The Unbound Void Author: [UK] Ray Brasier Publisher: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House Translator: Nie Shichang

★ "Nihilism" ≠ "existence is meaningless", what else is left unsaid?

★ Reject the clichés about "nihilism" and focus on its impact today

★ Another masterpiece of speculative realism

-Editor's Recommendation-

★ Is nihilism a disease that needs to be diagnosed and cured? Do people need to rebuild the meaning of existence, the purpose of life, or repair the broken and no longer harmonious relationship between man and nature? - Nihilism is not a perplexity of existence but an opportunity for speculation.

★ Reject the clichéd claim that "nihilism" means "existence is meaningless", explore the hidden things behind this term that have not yet been explored by philosophers, and focus on the meaning and influence of nihilism today after Nietzsche, Sartre and postmodernism.

★ Centered on the concept of nihilism, this book comprehensively reviews post-Kantian philosophy and provides an incisive summary and critique of the relevant theories of Adorno, Heidegger, Deleuze, Badiou, Meillassoux, and Laruelle.

-Content Introduction-

Following Nietzsche, Sartre and postmodernists, British philosopher Ray Brasier reshapes nihilism as a philosophical issue through this book. The book is divided into three parts, each dealing with a different aspect of nihilism. By studying nihilism, the author challenges some core views of contemporary continental philosophy dominated by phenomenology and critical theory.

The main arguments of this book are twofold. First, the author points out that nihilism is not "a morbid deterioration of subjectivism", that is, "declaring the whole world invalid and reducing reality to a correlate of the absolute self". On the contrary, it is "the inevitable conclusion of the belief in realism", because realism firmly believes that there is a "reality independent of the mind"; secondly, the author proposes that the Enlightenment broke the "chain of existence" and defiled the "world book". As a result of the enlightenment process and the inevitable product of the rejuvenation of the power of reason, the disenchantment of the world marks an exciting trend in the discovery of knowledge, rather than a catastrophic decline.

These views sweep away the extreme pessimism in nihilistic thought and are a powerful response to the contemporary humanistic dilemma, bringing cognitive challenges and intellectual enlightenment.

-Expert Recommendation-

This is a weighty and original book. It raises firmly questions about the relationship of philosophy to the universe, and to human purpose, as described by scientific thought. These questions are both profound and probing. […] It overturns the assumption that we have somehow solved the problem of nihilism. It evokes and even intensifies the shock and destructive power that nihilism once had on thought.

—Robin McKay

The book delivers on its many promises, not the least of which is that it offers a rare reading experience: a genuine philosophical discovery […]. Brassier’s work provides striking evidence for at least one of Adorno’s claims: “Thought glorifies itself by defending what it denounces as nihilism.”

-- Knox Peden

Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek are the most prominent incarnations of contemporary European philosophy, having finally emerged from the shadow of Kantian transcendental idealism that had persisted for nearly two centuries. […] Ray Brassier joins these thinkers at the forefront of these exciting new developments.

—Adrian Johnston

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