Flusser Studies 38 – November 2024 / Special Issue: Nihilism in Vilém Flusser’s Thinking
Der Sisyphos des Camus oder die Ablehnung des Selbstmordes / O mito des Sisifo de Camus
Entre Lúcifer e o Cristo {ou} Queda e Redenção
This essay addresses Flusser’s response to the problem of nihilism. To that purpose, it is necessary to recall Flusser’s advice: “Let us listen to the sources of our conversation, let us listen to proper names as they whisper within us, and let us converse with them” – and all this without fanaticism. Therefore, this enquiry will be conducted in the shadow of the objections of radical orthodoxy to the Cartesian Cogito ergo sum, and in the light of Heidegger’s response to the problem. Flusser, Heidegger and radical orthodoxy converge in their assumption that the elaboration of the Cogito ergo sum is already the unfolding of nihilism, and the belief that, when dealing with issues such as nihilism, we must revisit the voices of our tradition. Listening to these voices forces us to return to the beginning to verify what we already took for granted.
A caminho do nada: a questão do progresso da humanidade ocidental e do papel da língua nas reflexões de Heidegger, Benjamin e Flusser
This essay delineates a strand of philosophical thought which relates the progress of modern humanity leading it to nihilism with the profanation of thought and, thus, with the profanation of language. We map this trend in German philosophy in the interwar period, focusing on Martin Heidegger's text “Nietzsche's word 'God is Dead'” and Walter Benjamin's monograph The Origin of German Tragic Drama. The focus on the concepts of progress and guilt and the metaphysical dimension of our thought and our language seeks to show the importance of these philosophers in Vilém Flusser's early writings and in his articulation of the theory of language.
On Flusser’s Struggle with Nihilism
Flusser’s work has been the object of various one-sided and selective interpretations. However, overcoming bottomlessness is at the core of his life’s work. He resorted to strategies like play, dialogue, contemplation, celebration, ritual, translation, and culture but knew they did not solve the problem of the absurd human condition, of being sentenced to death and oblivion. Flusser was aware of this contradiction; the freedom he achieved beyond bottomlessness was a desperate one. Bottomlessness is a prerequisite for freedom, but its repression is necessary for survival. Instead of choosing either suicide or orthopraxis, Flusser saw human communication, dialogue, “as a means to create meaning and as a method for the survival in the Other”.
Retreat from Nihilism
This article attempts to elaborate Flusser’s “logic of freedom” as related to nihilistic strains of thought found in his early writings. I suggest that Flusser conceptualizes freedom as partial and narrow, responsive, and negative. Freedom is only possible within, with regard to, and in opposition to the “apparatus” or a coercive order. Underlying this reconstruction is the question about the connection between this logic and the nihilistic strains of thought found in his early writings. I show that the nucleus of the later logic can already be found in these same early writings. Consequently, I argue, the “logic of freedom” should be read as an answer to, and a retreat from, the nihilistic orientation.
Vilém Flusser nas vizinhanças do niilismo e para além
The question of nihilism implies a return to Nietzsche. In this article this return is briefly made only to the extent that it is possible to find a connecting thread between Nietzsche and Flusser with regard to nihilism. Prepared as a dialogue essay with other interpreters of Flusser, selected based on their contributions to specific themes that are put into discussion, this article aims to highlight the fact that nihilism is, for Flusser, just a starting point with a view to its overcoming. This does not mean to deny that Flusser focused on concepts neighboring nihilism such as doubt and skepticism. However, these neighborhoods do not prevent Flusser from finding foci of hope in the playful power of the human that materializes in the arts, conceived as emancipatory inebriation.
Figures of Nihilism in Vilém Flusser’s Philosophy
This essay focuses on the role of nihilism in the development of Vilém Flusser’s work, a notion that plays a major role at the beginning of his intellectual adventure and keeps resurfacing in various guises and different moments. Nihilism is linked to certain people and the work of certain philosophers: to his friend Alex Bloch and the work of Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Vicente Fereira da Silva. It appears in The History of the Devil, the autobiography Bodenlos and Vampyroteuthis Infernalis. Nihilism is connected to a series of topics: the forces of negativity and denial, the absurdity and groundlessness of human existence, the meaninglessness of life and the temptation of suicide, the concept of nothingness in Jewish thinking and the void in Oriental philosophy, the devil and the diabolical abyss, Mephistopheles and the infernal octopus at the bottom of the sea, and finally the zero-dimensionality of pixels and the principle of entropy. Flusser repeatedly spoke of himself in Mephistophelian terms and called his life in Brazil a diabolical existence. Samson Flexor painted a portrait of Vilém Flusser that strongly accentuated the diabolical side of his person. Louis Bec’s various species of Vampyroteuthis Infernalis represent different sides of Flusser’s thinking.
Mundos Estranhos: Ecos do Niilismo e do Pessimismo na Imaginação Flusseriana
This article aims at bringing together Flusser’s thought and the Philosophical tradition of pessimism, especially regarding their similar ways of appealing to the powers of imagination. Always fluctuating between optimism and pessimism without ever assuming a final and definitive stance, Flusser sought to engender new and provocative ways of thinking about humankind’s future, whether in their darkest or most blissful versions. Imagination then becomes a tool for translating even the most radical nihilism into prospects for a better tomorrow. Flusser drinks from the wells of pessimism and nihilism, entertaining ideas that at times feel very close to the teachings of the pessimistic tradition (Mainländer, Bahnsen, Zapffe etc). However, by asserting that final answers are never good answers, Flusser leaves the door open for powerful visions of a humanity that becomes ever more centered on projects rather than on subjects.
Do nada, a natureza – língua e realidade em Vilém Flusser
This essay presents the way in which Vilém Flusser conceives the idea of nature in his philosophy, especially in Língua e Realidade but also in Natural:mente – vários acessos ao significado de natureza. This notion leads to a poetic vision of what we call nature. In Língua e realidade, Flusser states that language creates reality. In his theory of language he will propose that nature is the mode of reality that results from the poetic activity of language. Our hypothesis is that the ecological crisis is also the result of the epistemic privilege of the scientific view of nature, which translates into its instrumentalization. We would need a more poetic and intuitive perception of nature, like the one Ailton Krenak presents in his books. It would be worth considering whether the ecological crisis and its call for the emergency of a new planetary sensitivity and consciousness are not indicating to us the need to relearn how to listen to the world.