some readings at the moment (pessimism, nihilism)

[meso]

A couple years ago i came to know several authors who discuss topics that are related to this place, like Philipp Mainländer (ultra pessimistic philosopher, "will to death", seems to have been a golden heart), Peter Wessel Zapffe (more like a nihilist, even tho life is seen as profoundly tragic in his eyes) and Julie Reshe (a mix of the two ? with the psychoanalytical lens, not a fan of psychoanalysis in general but she's interesting)

What i find in their books is a kind of comfort, like : i'm not wrong, and there's no try to trick me into thinking that life is amazing (or that it can be amazing for everyone, or every sentient thing if we extend the idea)

I guess some of you read that kind of authors, you got any recommandations ?

I know there's already a thread about manga/anime and ctb, but it can also be something like that, i'm searching things in the area, that brings a kind of comfort, beauty, feeling of oneness / fellowship

poetry, philosophy, fantasy, anything, any support !

 

[LigottiIsRight]

The conspiracy against the human race by Thomas Ligotti and The human predicament by David Benatar are good contemporary readings about the futility/evilness of life. Sarah Perry's Every cradle is a grave depicts interesting arguments in defense of antinatalism and pro-choice regarding suicide.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

ever deeper honesty book is free to download

Ever Deeper Honesty

How to reduce/prevent/eliminate suffering, and get ever-deeper freedom/peace/love/bliss, and “That”.

www.everdeeperhonesty.com

 

[TransilvanianHunger]

Well, this thread taught me that there is such a thing as "negative psychoanalysis" (Reshe), which sounds frankly absurd.

Reshe's description of it as an alternative to "positively oriented conventional psychology, self-help culture, and therapeutic culture [...] with their focus on healing, happiness, and success" is quite suspicious because, besides "healing", nothing in that sentence really applies to psychoanalysis. So, she either misunderstands psychoanalysis fundamentally, or she's trying to come up with a "brand" to peddle online, as many do these days.

Whatever the case may be, I guess I have something to read for this weekend.

As for my contribution, how about Hedayat's The Blind Owl? A nice story about madness, confusion, and existential horror.

 

[longtheriverrun]

The Loser by Thomas Bernhard, The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, and The Life of a Stupid Man by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa are all novels I loved. If you haven't read any of them before I would highly recommend them—explorations of existential despair, alienation, self-destruction, and dissatisfaction (largely with societal norms). If I'm recalling the latter two well enough, all three share a somewhat introspective / first-person narrative structure

Edit: Memoirs of My Nervous Illness (Daniel Paul Schreber) is incredible—even with the relatively subpar english translation

 

[meso]

Well, this thread taught me that there is such a thing as "negative psychoanalysis" (Reshe), which sounds frankly absurd.

Reshe's description of it as an alternative to "positively oriented conventional psychology, self-help culture, and therapeutic culture [...] with their focus on healing, happiness, and success" is quite suspicious because, besides "healing", nothing in that sentence really applies to psychoanalysis. So, she either misunderstands psychoanalysis fundamentally, or she's trying to come up with a "brand" to peddle online, as many do these days.

Whatever the case may be, I guess I have something to read for this weekend.

As for my contribution, how about Hedayat's The Blind Owl? A nice story about madness, confusion, and existential horror.

Thanks for the suggestion

As for Reshe, i agree with you about the fact that psychoanalysis (what i read about it) is already kinda "negative", so about your dilemma, i think it's more like the second choice, maybe it's better described as "negative psychology", idk, or "psychoanalysis that is already negative and used as such",

did you have the time to read it ?

 

[TransilvanianHunger]

did you have the time to read it ?

I did, and I wasn't super impressed, to be honest.

Her main argument seems to be that psychoanalysis ought to embrace the death drive to an extreme degree, and focus solely on it. She claims that Freud didn't go far enough when he proposed the death drive because he still hoped for psychoanalysis to be therapeutic and helpful, and the post-Freudians rejected it on grounds of taste (which is more or less true). Lacan picked it up and gave it more importance, but Reshe argues that it was still not enough. The death drive, she says, is the fundamental force of the human psyche. It is so fundamental that it shapes societies through its effects on the subjects that constitute them. Paying attention to anything else is essentially being willfully ignorant of this fact.

She also understands the death drive as fundamentally destructive, and destruction as positive. Here the argument can go either way — some do conceptualise the death drive more or less literally as being-towards-death; meanwhile, I'm on the side of seeing it as a drive towards a state of zero tension, not towards death or destruction of the organism. Ultimately, a zero-tension state is impossible to achieve because tension is a necessary condition of biological and psychic existence — tension between subject and environment, and within the subject itself. Death does not count as a state of zero tension because it requires that the subject stop existing.

The worst part of it, though, was the ending. She openly admits that her version of psychoanalysis is fundamentally useless in every sense of the term (and that's a feature, not a bug), though it's apparently fine because nothing matters and we're all living dead anyway, so why bother doing, believing, or proposing anything? Be a kind person, or don't. Love your friends and family, or don't. Find something you enjoy doing, or don't. Who gives a shit?

And, I mean, far be it from me to criticise someone for embracing a stance of strong existential and moral nihilism. But it does come across as a bit of a grift when she offers "certifications" for "negative therapists" on her website and as perks for Patreon supporters.