Book Review : Eugene Thacker - Infinite Resignation (2018)
Order Infinite Resignation here
Pessimism is misanthropy as an end, not a means – misanthropy without origin.
The first season of True Detective was simultaneously the best and worst thing to happen to philosophy in the twenty-first century. It incorporated deep, thoughtful concepts into popular culture without incorporating any deep thinking. Saying “time is a flat circle” without understanding what the fuck it means suddenly was the coolest thing. What the fuck is pessimism and why did it ring so immediately and uncomfortably true to unassuming audiences?
These are questions I regularly ask myself while rewatching True Detective obsessively every year, which lead me to the work of American philosopher Eugene Thacker.
Infinite Resignation is Eugene Thacker’s most recent book. I usually don’t review philosophy on this site, but I make an exception today. Thacker’s work informed very important popular culture in recent years and it is technically not philosophy. It’s a collection of aphorism of varying natures. Some have philosophical leanings, but they are mostly fragmented, world-weary observations. It sounds both oddly familiar and disturbingly defeated.
My initial reaction to Infinite Resignation is probably the most common. After twenty page or so, I told myself: “fuck that dude and his pre-pubescent Goth bullshit”. But I didn’t stop reading. The unphilosophical nature of Infinite Resignation took me by surprise. There is no thought system explained or anything. Only a series of laconic observations on how everyone and everything is shitty. It’s definitely not what I thought it was. But I kept going anyway.
The dots eventually started connecting and statements like: “All philosophers are armchair philosophers" helped me see the forest for the trees. What separates Infinite Resignation from nu metal song lyrics is the admission of defeat of philosophy and meaning. The titular infinite resignation. It’s a very intimate book, where Thacker basically admits: “It doesn’t fucking matter if you turn your life over to Hegel, the world will be shitty, uncaring and just as inscrutable.”
Whatever I’m thinking seems pretentious and naive. Whatever I feel seems cliché and scripted. Whatever I see around me seems a tireless pantomime of tedious significance. Tragedy turns to farce, and life-affirming life becomes grotesque, filling me with revulsion.
The very idea of a defeat of philosophy is a pretty loaded thing. In collective consciousness, philosophy is how one understands the world. Both the physical world and human interaction. What Eugene Thacker is saying in Infinite Resignation is that 1) whatever you think you know doesn’t pass the test of physical existence and 2) the devouring self-awareness acquired along the way is working against you. Your solipsistic insistence on self-improvement is useless.
Branding myself an existentialist for as long as I’ve been mentally capable of branding myself, Infinite Resignation triggered a profound reflection on my own beliefs. Existentialism is the equivalent of being happy in prison, really. Pretending that if things are not terrible for you, they’re not objectively terrible. If my reflection has reach any conclusion yet is that living your life according to any belief system of some sort is a pretty fucking terrible idea.
The people who constantly complain are never helpful – this is a platitude. But if this is true, then it is also true that the people who are always helpful never complain, and this is just as disturbing.
No one likes a pessimist. That’s why pessimists end up talking to themselves and coming off like grumpy Goths who never got over their Bahaus phase. Many times while reading Infinite Resignation, I wondered if Eugene Thacker was playing a role. But I don’t think he is. The cruel, uncaring chaos of society just is. Whether or not it bothers you because it’s negative or you think that you figured your way around it, it doesn’t change anything. It’s a humbling thing.
7.9/10
