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'{{Infobox philosopher | name = Eugene Thacker | region = Western Philosophy | era = [[Contemporary Philosophy]] | image = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | school_tradition = [[Continental Philosophy]], [[Comparative Literature]], [[Media Studies]], [[Philosophy of Religion]] | main_interests = [[Pessimism]], [[Nihilism]], [[Antihumanism]], [[horror fiction]], [[horror film]], [[mysticism]], [[weird fiction]] | notable_ideas = Cosmic Pessimism, The Horror of Philosophy, "''The World'', ''Earth'' and ''Planet''", Dark Media, Biomedia | influences = [[Schopenhauer]], [[Nietzsche]], [[Cioran]], [[Georges Bataille|Bataille]], [[Laruelle]], [[Deleuze]], [[Michel Foucault|Foucault]], [[Kant]], [[Aristotle]], [[Rene Descartes|Descartes]] | influenced = }} '''Eugene Thacker''' is an author and Professor at [[The New School]] in New York City. His writing is often associated with the philosophy of [[nihilism]] and [[pessimism]]. Thacker’s most recent books are the [[Horror of Philosophy series|''Horror of Philosophy'' series]] (including the book ''In The Dust Of This Planet''), ''Cosmic Pessimism'' and ''Infinite Resignation''. He received his Bachelor's degree from the [[University of Washington]], and a PhD in Comparative Literature from [[Rutgers University]]. ==Works== Thacker's most widely read book is ''In The Dust Of This Planet'', part of his ''Horror of Philosophy'' trilogy.<ref>''In The Dust Of This Planet'' has been translated into several languages, including Spanish ([https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/enelpolvodeesteplaneta?source=feed_text&story_id=1735638043333844 En El Polvo De Este Planeta], Materia Oscura, 2015), Russian (в пыли этой планеты, Hyle Press, 2017), and Italian ([https://not.neroeditions.com/eugene-thacker-tra-le-ceneri-di-questo-pianeta Tra le ceneri di questo pianeta], Nero Editions, 2019).</ref> In it, Thacker explores the idea of the "unthinkable world" as represented in the [[horror fiction]] genre, in philosophies of pessimism and nihilism, and in the apophatic ("darkness") mysticism traditions. In the first volume, ''In The Dust Of This Planet'', Thacker calls the horror of philosophy "the isolation of those moments in which philosophy reveals its own limitations and constraints, moments in which thinking enigmatically confronts the horizon of its own possibility."<ref>Thacker, ''In The Dust Of This Planet - Horror of Philosophy vol. 1'', p. 2.</ref> Thacker distinguishes the "world-for-us" (the human-centric view of the world), and the "world-in-itself" (the world as it exists in essence), from what he calls the "world-without-us": "the world-without-us lies somewhere in between, in a nebulous zone that is at once impersonal and horrific."<ref>Thacker, ''In The Dust Of This Planet - Horror of Philosophy vol. 1'', p. 6.</ref> <!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:In The Dust of This Planet.jpg|thumb|right|]] --> Thacker's major philosophical work is ''After Life''. In it, Thacker argues that the [[ontology]] of life operates by way of a split between "Life" and "the living," making possible a "metaphysical displacement" in which life is thought via another metaphysical term, such as time, form, or spirit: "Every ontology of life thinks of life in terms of something-other-than-life...that something-other-than-life is most often a metaphysical concept, such as time and temporality, form and causality, or spirit and immanence"<ref>Thacker, ''After Life'', p. x. See [http://www.pactac.net/pactacweb/web-content/video66.html After Life], talk and interview, Ctheory/PAC-TAC lecture series, November 2008.</ref> Thacker traces this theme from [[Aristotle]], to [[Scholasticism]] and [[mysticism]]/[[negative theology]], to [[Spinoza]] and [[Kant]], showing how this three-fold displacement is also alive in philosophy today (life as time in process philosophy and Deleuzianism, life as form in biopolitical thought, life as spirit in post-secular philosophies of religion). Ultimately Thacker argues for a skepticism regarding "life": "Life is not only a problem ''of'' philosophy, but a problem ''for'' philosophy.<ref>Thacker, ''After Life'', p. x.</ref> Thacker's work has often been associated with contemporary philosophies of nihilism and pessimism, as well as to [[speculative realism]].<ref>[http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/31403831 All for Nought], reading at Nietzsche Workshop IV, Parsons/The New School, 13 April 2013 (starts at 35:00 min).</ref> His text "Cosmic Pessimism" defines pessimism as "the philosophical form of disenchantment."<ref>[http://continentcontinent.cc/index.php/continent/article/view/84 Thacker, "Cosmic Pessimism"], ''continent'' 2.2 (2012).</ref> The text begins with the following line: "Pessimism is the night-side of thought, a melodrama of the futility of the brain, a poetry written in the graveyard of philosophy." In 2013 Thacker, along with Alexander Galloway and McKenzie Wark, published the book ''Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation''. There Thacker writes about [[dark media]] or technologies that mediate between the natural and supernatural. In the opening of the book the authors ask "Does everything that exists, exist to me presented and represented, to be mediated and remediated, to be communicated and translated? There are mediative situations in which heresy, exile, or banishment carry the day, not repetition, communion, or integration. There are certain kinds of messages that state 'there will be no more messages'. Hence for every communication there is a correlative excommunication."<ref>''Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation'', Alexander R. Galloway, Eugene Thacker, and McKenzie Wark (University of Chicago Press, 2013), p. 10.</ref> This approach has been referred to as the "New York School of Media Theory."<ref>Geert Lovnik, [http://www.e-flux.com/journal/54/59854/hermes-on-the-hudson-notes-on-media-theory-after-snowden/ "Hermes on the Hudson: Notes on Media Theory after Snowden"], e-flux #54 (2014).</ref> Thacker's poetry and fiction has appeared in anthologies such as ''Degenerative Prose'' (published by Black Ice/FC2), ''Diagram: Selections from the Magazine'' (edited by Ander Monson), ''Debug: Primary Techno Noir'' (edited by [[Kenji Siratori]]) and Black Ice Magazine.<ref>For examples see [http://www.altx.com/profiles/archives/garde/index.html/ This Quintessence of Your Blood] (1995), [http://www.altx.com/profiles/archives/neuromantic/index.html/ In Vivo Torsional Stability] (1998).</ref> Thacker has produced book arts projects, and an "anti-novel" titled ''An Ideal for Living'', of which American poet and conceptual writer [[Kenneth Goldsmith]] has said: "this an important book...these pages take cues from Burroughs and Gibson, while at the same time presciently pointing to the web-based path writing would take over the next decade."<ref>From the back cover blurb, Gobbet Press re-issue, 2014.</ref> With [[Ronald Sukenick]] and [[Mark Amerika]], Thacker helped establish Alt-X Press, for which he edited the anthology ''Hard_Code''.<ref>An electronic version of the book is available at the [http://www.altx.com/ebooks/altx_frame.html Alt-X Press] website.</ref> Thacker has also collaborated with art, media, and music collectives.<ref>These include [[Fakeshop]], which has presented work at [http://90.146.8.18/en/archives/festival_archive/festival_catalogs/festival_catalog.asp?iProjectID=8316 Ars Electronica] and the [http://artport.whitney.org/exhibitions/biennial2000/fakeshop.shtml 2000 Whitney Biennial], [[Biotech Hobbyist]], and [[Merzbow]]. Thacker produced a CD of [[noise music]] released by [http://www.xtr.com Extreme Records] (''Sketches for Biotech Research,'' XCD-046), as well as a collaborative CD with Merzbow, part of the Merzbow Box Set released in 2000. The Box Set also includes a book titled [http://www.xtr.com/catalog/XLTD-003/ Merzbook] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927113536/http://www.xtr.com/catalog/xltd-003/ |date=2011-09-27 }} that includes Thacker's essay "Bataille/Body/Noise."</ref> Thacker's earlier works adopt approaches from the [[Philosophy of technology|philosophy of science & technology]].<ref>See [http://roychristopher.com/eugene-thacker-whole-earth-dna Interview with Roy Christopher] from 2006, also in the book ''Follow for Now''.</ref> Examples are his book ''Biomedia''<ref>See [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/53804 What Is Biomedia?], ''Configurations'' 11.1/Project Muse (2003), and the entry "Biomedia" in ''Critical Terms for Media Studies'', University of Chicago Press, 2010.</ref> and writings on [[bioinformatics]], [[nanotechnology]], [[Biological computing|biocomputing]], complexity, CAS ([[complex adaptive system]]s), swarms and networks.<ref>[http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=422 Networks, Swarms, Multitudes, part 1], [http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=423 part 2], ''Ctheory'' (2004), [http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=472 Biophilosophy for the 21st Century], ''Ctheory'' (6 September 2005).</ref> This work is also interested in the boundary between science and [[science fiction]].<ref>See ''Biomedia''. Also "The Science Fiction of Technoscience" in Leonardo 34.2 (2001); "SF, Technoscience, Net Art" in Art Journal 59 (2000).</ref> An example is Thacker's concept of "biomedia" which he defines as following: "Biomedia entail the informatic recontextualization of biological components and processes, for ends that may be medical or nonmedical...and with effects that are as much cultural, social, and political as they are scientific." He goes on to clarify, saying: "biomedia continuously make the dual demand that information materialize itself as gene or protein compounds. This point cannot be overstated: biomedia depend upon an understanding of biological as informational but not immaterial."<ref>Thacker, "Biomedia", in WJT Mitchell & Mark BN Hansen (editors), Critical Terms for Media Studies, University of Chicago Press 2010, p. 123.</ref> Thacker distinguishes biomedia from traditional concepts of biotechnology, as seen in science fiction via cyborgs. With biomedia, he writes, "the emphasis is less on 'technology' as a tool, and more on the technical reconditioning of the 'biological.' It is this assumption that characterizes the concept of 'biomedia.'"<ref>[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/53804 Thacker, "What Is Biomedia?", p. 52]</ref> Thacker explicitly distinguishes this from mechanical prosthetics and sci-fi tropes of downloading human consciousness into virtual reality. He writes, "By contrast, what we find with biomedia is a constant, consistent, and methodical inquiry into the technical-philosophical question of 'what a body can do.'"<ref>Thacker, "What Is Biomedia?", "Configurations," 11.1 (2003): 53]</ref> As an example of this, in his book ''The Global Genome'', Thacker looks to recent developments in tissue engineering where readily apparent techno-mechanical apparatuses disappear altogether so that it appears as though technology is the natural body. Here, in Thacker's words, "Technology is thus invisible yet immanent."<ref>Thacker, The Global Genome, MIT Press, 2005, p. 267.</ref> In this same book, Thacker connects biomedia to a notion of "bioart," which he sees as a form of post-media politics conceptualized by French philosopher [[Félix Guattari]]. Thacker redefines bioart from the common definition of art utilizing biology as its medium to art that makes "politically aware, critical, and ethically conscious interventions" enabled by nonspecialized engagement with biotechnology."<ref>Thacker, ''The Global Genome'', p. 307.</ref> He offers the Australia-based art research lab [[Symbiotica]] as an example of his formulation of bioart. Thacker is a regular contributor to ''The Japan Times'' Books section, where he writes about the work of Junji Ito, Edogawa Rampo, Osamu Dazai, "death poems" of Zen monks, Haruo Sato, and Keiji Nishitani.<ref>See [https://www.japantimes.co.jp/search-results/?q=eugene+thacker&submit=Search The Japan Times] website for more.</ref> He has written a column for ''Mute Magazine'' called "Occultural Studies", where he writes about black metal, Japanese noise, silent film divas, medieval demonology, Schopenhauer, horror author Thomas Ligotti, post-punk band And Also The Trees, and Surrealist poet Robert Desnos.<ref>[http://www.metamute.org/editorial/occultural-studies-column Occultural Studies] @ Mute Magazine.</ref> Thacker has also written the Forewords to the English editions of the works of [[E.M. Cioran]], published by Arcade Press, as well as the Preface and Annotations to [[Clive Barker]]'s novella ''Cabal'', published by Fiddleblack Press.<ref>[https://fiddleblack.org/press/cabal-and-other-annotations Cabal & Other Annotations, published by Fiddleblack]</ref> He has written about religion,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/DarkNightsOfTheUniverseEtNoxSicutDiesIlluminabitur Dark Nights of the Universe], reading at The Public School NYC/Recess Gallery, April 26–29, 2012 (with Daniel Coluciello Barber, Nicola Masciandaro, and Alexander R. Galloway), [http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2011/01/eugene-thacker-divine-darkness/ Divine Darkness], lecture at "Dark Materialisms", London Natural History Museum, 12 January 2011, [http://www.palgrave-journals.com/pmed/journal/v3/n1/index.html "Wayless Abyss: Mysticism, Mediation, & Divine Nothingness"], Postmedieval #3 (2012).</ref> art,<ref>[http://publicdomainreview.org/2015/04/09/black-on-black/ Black on Black], The Public Domain Review (2015)</ref> and music (on topics of black metal, Japanese noise, spectral music, and Requiem Mass).<ref>[http://solutioperfecta.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/g6-thacker.pdf Day of Wrath], "Glossator 6 (2012) - Black Metal": 89-120, [http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/expanding-mind/2010/9/30/expanding-mind-093010.html Expanding Mind Interview 9/30/2010] (Erik Davis and Maja D'Aoust interview Nicola Masciandaro and Eugene Thacker on black metal), [http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/viewArticle/80/56 Pulse Demons], ''Culture Machine'' no.9 (2007)</ref> In 2018, Thacker's new book, ''Infinite Resignation'', a series of fragments and aphorisms on the nature of pessimism, was published by [[Repeater Books]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://repeaterbooks.com/product/infinite-resignation/|title=Infinite Resignation {{!}} Repeater Books {{!}} Repeater Books|website=Repeater Books|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-07-28}}</ref> One reviewer writes of the book: “''Infinite Resignation'' belongs on the shelf next to the likes of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer...Like all great works of philosophy, this book will force readers to question their long-held beliefs in the way the world works and the way the world ought to work...Thacker’s voice is quiet, a desperate whisper into the void that is both haunting and heartbreaking.”<ref>https://intothevoidmagazine.com/2018/07/19/philosopher-eugene-thacker-sighs-in-the-face-of-everything-in-infinite-resignation/</ref> ==Influence in media== In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, [[Nic Pizzolatto]], creator and writer of''[[True Detective (TV series)|True Detective]]'', cites Thacker's ''In The Dust of This Planet'' as an influence on the TV series, particularly the worldview of lead character [[Rust Cohle]], along with several other books: ([[Ray Brassier]]'s ''Nihil Unbound'', [[Thomas Ligotti]]'s ''The Conspiracy Against the Human Race'', Jim Crawford's ''Confessions of an Antinatalist'', and [[David Benatar]]'s ''Better Never To Have Been'').<ref>[https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/02/02/writer-nic-pizzolatto-on-thomas-ligotti-and-the-weird-secrets-of-true-detective/ "Writer Nic Pizzolatto on Thomas Ligotti and the Weird Secrets of True Detective."]</ref> In September 2014 the [[WNYC]]'s [[Radiolab]] ran a show entitled "In The Dust Of This Planet." The program traced the appropriation of Thacker's book of the same name in contemporary art, fashion, music video, and popular culture.<ref>[http://www.radiolab.org/story/dust-planet/ "Radiolab - In The Dust Of This Planet"], original broadcast on Monday September 8, 2014. The story was also covered by NPR's On The Media in their show [http://www.onthemedia.org/tags/nihilism/ On The Media - Nihilism].</ref> Both Thacker's book and the Radiolab podcast were covered by Glenn Beck on TheBlazeTV.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytss1ttDJX8</ref> Thacker has commented on 'nihilism memes' in an interview for The Awl: "Is it any accident that at a time when we have become acutely aware of the challenges concerning global climate change, we have also created this bubble of social media? I find social media and media culture generally to be a vapid, desperate, self-aggrandizing circus of species-specific solipsism — ironically, the stupidity of our species might be its only legacy."<ref>[https://www.theawl.com/2017/08/theres-always-death-to-look-forward-to/ "There's always death to look forward to: Nihilist Arby's and the cheerful nihilism of the Internet]", by Angela Brussel, The Awl, August 2nd, 2017.</ref> Eugene Thacker and his work ''In the Dust of This World: The Horror of Philosophy'' is referenced by Youtube channel [[Wisecrack (Youtube Channel)|Wisecrack]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Philosophy of Rick and Morty – Wisecrack Edition|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWFDHynfl1E|website=youtube.com|publisher=Wisecrack.co|date=19 December 2015}}</ref> Comic book author [[Warren Ellis]] cites as an influence the nihilist philosophies of Thacker and Peter Sjöstedt-H for his 2017 series ''Karnak: The Flaw in All Things''.<ref>[https://www.blackgate.com/2016/08/27/the-flaw-in-everything-warren-ellis-karnak-the-shatterer/ "The Flaw in Everything: Warren Ellis’ Karnak the Shatterer"] also [http://morning.computer/2015/10/starry-speculative-corpse/ "Morning, Computer - Warren Ellis blog"</ref> a re-imagining of the original Marvel ''Inhumans'' character [[Karnak (comics)|Karnak]]. ==Bibliography== *''Into the Influx Incision'' (Mercury Arts Press, 1994) *Editor, ''Hard Code: Narrating the Network Society'' (Alt-X Press, 2001) *''Biomedia'' (University of Minnesota Press, 2004) *''Creative Biotechnology: A User's Manual'', with [[Natalie Jeremijenko]] and Heath Bunting (Locus+, 2004) *''The Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture'' (MIT Press, 2005) *''The Exploit: A Theory of Networks'', co-authored with [[Alexander R. Galloway]] (University of Minnesota Press, 2007) *''After Life'' (University of Chicago Press, 2010) *''In The Dust Of This Planet - Horror of Philosophy, vol. 1'' (Zero Books, 2011) *Editor with Ed Keller & Nicola Masciandaro, ''Leper Creativity: The Cyclonopedia Symposium'' (Punctum Books, 2012) *''Dark Nights of the Universe'' (with Daniel Colucciello Barber, [[Nicola Masciandaro]], [[Alexander R. Galloway]] and [[François Laruelle]]) ([NAME] Publications, 2013) *''Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation'', with [[Alexander R. Galloway]] and [[McKenzie Wark]] (University of Chicago Press, 2013) *''And They Were Two In One And One In Two'', co-edited with [[Nicola Masciandaro]] (Schism Press, 2014) *''An Ideal for Living: Anti-Novel'' (Gobbet Press, 2014 [2006]) *''Starry Speculative Corpse (Horror of Philosophy Vol. 2)'' (Zero Books, 2015) *''Tentacles Longer Than Night (Horror of Philosophy Vol. 3)'' (Zero Books, 2015) *''Cosmic Pessimism'' (Univocal Books, 2015, with drawings by Keith Tilford) *''Infinite Resignation'' (Repeater Books, 2018) ==See also== * [[Georges Bataille]] * [[Gilles Deleuze]] * [[Michel Foucault]] * [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] * [[horror fiction]] * [[experimental literature]] * [[biopunk]] * [[antihumanism]] * [[Emil Cioran]] * [[nihilism]] * [[pessimism]] * [[Japanese horror]] ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == {{external links|date=February 2017}} * [http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/liberal-studies/faculty/ The New School: Eugene Thacker] * [http://vimeo.com/16642791 Lecture at The New School], November 8, 2010 * [http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=472 Biophilosophy for the 21st Century], ''Ctheory'' (6 September 2005) * [http://www.urbanomic.com/pub_collapse4.php Nine Disputations on Theology and Horror], published in ''Collapse'' vol. IV (2008) * [http://incognitumhactenus.com/nekros-or-the-poetics-of-biopolitics Nekros or the Poetics of Biopolitics], "Incognetum Hactenus - A Journal on Art, Philosophy, and Horror". * [http://www.fourbythreemagazine.com/issue/nihilism/12-fragments-on-nihilism 12 Fragments on Nihilism], Four By Three Magazine * [http://continentcontinent.cc/index.php/continent/article/view/84 Thacker, "Cosmic Pessimism"], ''continent'' 2.2 (2012) * [http://www.plinth.us/issue02 Black Bile], Plinth issue 2 [2014] * [http://ttbook.org/book/horror Interview on philosophy and horror], To The Best Of Our Knowledge, 10/30/2011 * [http://prn.fm/2012/07/19/expanding-mind-horror-philosophy-071912 'Horror of philosophy' interview] on Expanding Mind Radio, 9 July 2012 * [http://www.scapegoatjournal.org/docs/05/SG_Excess_378-387_F_Thacker.pdf "The Sight of a Mangled Corpse - Interview with Eugene Thacker"] in the journal Scapegoat, issue 05 (2013) * [http://www.radiolab.org/story/dust-planet/ Radiolab - In The Dust Of This Planet], Radiolab interview with Eugene Thacker, Simon Critchley, and others, WNYC, September 8, 2014 * [http://nbnseminar.com/2015/09/28/eugene-thacker-horror-of-philosophy-zero-book-2011-2015 Horror of Philosophy: Three Volumes], Interviewed by Carla Nappi on New Books Network (2015) * [http://www.full-stop.net/2016/10/26/interviews/blair-bainbridge/eugene-thacker Full Stop interview] October 26, 2016 * [http://www.metamute.org/search/node/eugene%20thacker articles written for ''Mute Magazine''] * [https://www.japantimes.co.jp/search-results/?q=eugene+thacker&submit=Search articles written for ''The Japan Times''] * [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/scholarly-advice-for-dark-times ''New Yorker'' feature] (9-16 July 2018) * [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/01/books/review-were-doomed-now-what-roy-scranton-infinite-resignation-eugene-thacker.html ''New York Times'' book review] (1 August 2018) * [https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/gy3dax/positive-effects-pessimism-health VICE interview] (8 August 2018) * [https://thequietus.com/articles/25509-eugene-thacker-infinite-resignation-interview Quietus interview] (October 24th 2018) * [https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/author-eugene-thacker-on-the-horrors-of-being-human/ Creative Independent interview] (November 8, 2018) {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Thacker, Eugene}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:21st-century American philosophers]] [[Category:American literary critics]] [[Category:Media theorists]] [[Category:The New School faculty]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]'