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The Last Night: Anti-Work, Atheism, Adventure
Our secular society seems to have finally found its new God: Work. As technological progress makes human labor superfluous, and over-production destroys both the economy and the planet, Work remains stronger than ever as a mantra of universal submission. This book develops a fully-fledged theory of radical atheism, advocating a disrespectful, opportunist squandering of obedience. By replacing hope and faith with adventure, The Last Night of our lives might finally become the first morning of an autonomous future.
106 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2013
11 people are currently reading
335 people want to read
About the author
Federico Campagna
14 books182 followersFederico Campagna is an Italian philosopher based in London.
He is the author of 'Otherworlds: Mediterranean lessons on escaping history' (Bloomsbury, 2025), 'Prophetic Culture: recreation for adolescents' (Bloomsbury, 2021), and 'Technic and Magic: the reconstruction of reality' (Bloosmbury, 2018), ‘The Last Night: antiwork, atheism, adventure’, (Zero Books, 2013).
He is lecturer in World-building at The Architectural Association (London), Associate Fellow at the Warburg Institute (London), and lecturer in Intellectual History at ECAL (Lausanne).
He works as director of rights at the UK/US radical publisher Verso Books, as editorial consultant for philosophy and anthropology at the Italian publisher Einaudi, and is a co-founder and senior editor at the Italian philosophy publisher Timeo.
He is the author of 'Otherworlds: Mediterranean lessons on escaping history' (Bloomsbury, 2025), 'Prophetic Culture: recreation for adolescents' (Bloomsbury, 2021), and 'Technic and Magic: the reconstruction of reality' (Bloosmbury, 2018), ‘The Last Night: antiwork, atheism, adventure’, (Zero Books, 2013).
He is lecturer in World-building at The Architectural Association (London), Associate Fellow at the Warburg Institute (London), and lecturer in Intellectual History at ECAL (Lausanne).
He works as director of rights at the UK/US radical publisher Verso Books, as editorial consultant for philosophy and anthropology at the Italian publisher Einaudi, and is a co-founder and senior editor at the Italian philosophy publisher Timeo.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 27, 2013
Takes on the cult of work (and it is a cult), but this is often far too indulgent in its rambling theorising. Pity, as I wanted to like it. The Skidelskys’ “How Much is Enough?” is far better on this.
May 19, 2017
*Minor Spoilers*
Left me nicely confused. The first half of the book very convincingly establishes the links between human-made immortalities (the normative abstractions), work and capitalism. Campagna constructively suggests "radical atheism" as the art of existential liberation through autonomy and mortality.
The acknowledgment that "we are loosing and therefore we need to stay low" is a reasonable, even liberating one. As Campagna nicely writes: Squanders slip underneath reality. The only flag they wave is this of their shadow. And a bit later, "adventures must be invisible, as if living in hiding".
However, later on Campagna suggests that this hidden, sabotage-like tactic should be abolished and squanders should join the open battlefield with political allies. Here lie my two major concerns.
First, campagna spends half of the book nicely building the concept of radical atheism and arguing why squanderers are the ones who secretly dismantle the throne of immortality. And then he suggests to abandon this life. But doesn't this mean that squanderers will have to abandon radical atheism as well? They might remain opportunists and egoists as per the means to achieve the "victory"- by sticking to left-wingers. But don't they put that victory on the throne of normative abstractions?
My second concern has to do with the suggested alliances. Who are exactly these leftists who have realistic chances of winning? Is it the parliamentary left or socio-democratic parties? The Occupy movements? The Indignados? Despite their ideological legacies, none of them is "victorious", as defined by Campagna. If they are the carriers of the adventurous parasites then their role is critical. Yet, this role is mentioned only superficially at the very end of the book. Or might be a preview for the next one?
But these are thoughts provoked by the book, which I guess make it a good one. It is a lyrical reading that doesn't shy away from words. Really enjoyed the autobiographical elements. Nice break from the dry academic texts.
Left me nicely confused. The first half of the book very convincingly establishes the links between human-made immortalities (the normative abstractions), work and capitalism. Campagna constructively suggests "radical atheism" as the art of existential liberation through autonomy and mortality.
The acknowledgment that "we are loosing and therefore we need to stay low" is a reasonable, even liberating one. As Campagna nicely writes: Squanders slip underneath reality. The only flag they wave is this of their shadow. And a bit later, "adventures must be invisible, as if living in hiding".
However, later on Campagna suggests that this hidden, sabotage-like tactic should be abolished and squanders should join the open battlefield with political allies. Here lie my two major concerns.
First, campagna spends half of the book nicely building the concept of radical atheism and arguing why squanderers are the ones who secretly dismantle the throne of immortality. And then he suggests to abandon this life. But doesn't this mean that squanderers will have to abandon radical atheism as well? They might remain opportunists and egoists as per the means to achieve the "victory"- by sticking to left-wingers. But don't they put that victory on the throne of normative abstractions?
My second concern has to do with the suggested alliances. Who are exactly these leftists who have realistic chances of winning? Is it the parliamentary left or socio-democratic parties? The Occupy movements? The Indignados? Despite their ideological legacies, none of them is "victorious", as defined by Campagna. If they are the carriers of the adventurous parasites then their role is critical. Yet, this role is mentioned only superficially at the very end of the book. Or might be a preview for the next one?
But these are thoughts provoked by the book, which I guess make it a good one. It is a lyrical reading that doesn't shy away from words. Really enjoyed the autobiographical elements. Nice break from the dry academic texts.
August 19, 2020
Campagna's method of reflecting on our society is so astonishingly fixated on his own emotional responses that he ignores any attempt to put these in a social or historical context, let alone understand their causes. He would do well to realise that people do not spend their lives working because of 'religious fervour': they do so because they have no choice, and any pride or zeal they display is how they manage to cope.
In this context, the pretentiousness and purple prose leaves a particularly bad taste. It is more than bad writing, it is a slap in the face of everyone really suffering at the hands of capitalism who desperately needs a way out.
In this context, the pretentiousness and purple prose leaves a particularly bad taste. It is more than bad writing, it is a slap in the face of everyone really suffering at the hands of capitalism who desperately needs a way out.
November 22, 2021
Some challenging ideas made here with the very convincing setup that under neoliberalism we have made work our new religion.
His definition of sabotaging reminded me of Valerie Solanas’ “unworking” proposition in SCUM manifesto, the idea of participating in so-called civil society only to infiltrate and exploit it. I can definitely see the appeal of being an adventurer by his definition.
This was a beautifully written book but as it was short there wasn’t much space to explore the ideas, their practical application, or their apparent contradictions in enough depth. As a result, it was intriguing rather than convincing.
His definition of sabotaging reminded me of Valerie Solanas’ “unworking” proposition in SCUM manifesto, the idea of participating in so-called civil society only to infiltrate and exploit it. I can definitely see the appeal of being an adventurer by his definition.
This was a beautifully written book but as it was short there wasn’t much space to explore the ideas, their practical application, or their apparent contradictions in enough depth. As a result, it was intriguing rather than convincing.
September 21, 2017
Pretentious. The author is too young to write as a real philosopher. He's not even a guru. And his ideas are far from being well explained in this small book. Too bad.
January 5, 2024
“The relationship between power and obedience is the same as that between capital and labour: if capital is nothing but crystallised labour - which collapses as a coercive reality over the labourers themselves - then power is nothing but crystallised obedience, which collapses like an avalanche over the very heads of those who obey.”
There’s a divine paradox to either side of work. It’s based in hope, religiosity, or belief in obedience in general. A human rebellion against guilt that compounds itself in negation.
The debt of the proletariat becomes insurmountable. It solidifies the death of any kind of meaningful emotional bourgeoisie leadership. Leadership becomes machinery. The representational shell of leadership is filled by a reflective generality of the populist mood. A rigid corporate socialism whose revolutionary catharsis remains an escalating fascist emotive.
Work can’t shake its belief in some kind of divine form of responsibility. A religiosity based in the nihilism of doing one’s job without identifying with it. You’d think nihilism would be to one side and belief on the other. But it’s rather this nihilistic disbelief in one’s dependent connection to work that brings about the need for hypervigilant supercompensation. It brings about the reactionary belief in one’s independence to one’s work. A belief in work that retaliates against the disbelief in it. A pouring of oneself fully into one’s work to restore the irredeemable dignity lost in obedient mechanization.
It’s easy to get caught up in what politically worked in the past. But revolution today cannot achieve the things it could before. The Occupy movement is one example. More awareness of the problem did nothing. What used to have bottom-up functionality is now top-down kitsch. The hope in change today becomes the ghost of power itself. A disbelief in the market system, thrown in reverse, still suffers from the same false sense of identity, moral virtuosity and acesticism. A more functional market atheism could replace the obedient hope provided by mechanistic religiosity, but it’s unclear exactly how. It takes a paradigm shift.
There’s a divine paradox to either side of work. It’s based in hope, religiosity, or belief in obedience in general. A human rebellion against guilt that compounds itself in negation.
The debt of the proletariat becomes insurmountable. It solidifies the death of any kind of meaningful emotional bourgeoisie leadership. Leadership becomes machinery. The representational shell of leadership is filled by a reflective generality of the populist mood. A rigid corporate socialism whose revolutionary catharsis remains an escalating fascist emotive.
Work can’t shake its belief in some kind of divine form of responsibility. A religiosity based in the nihilism of doing one’s job without identifying with it. You’d think nihilism would be to one side and belief on the other. But it’s rather this nihilistic disbelief in one’s dependent connection to work that brings about the need for hypervigilant supercompensation. It brings about the reactionary belief in one’s independence to one’s work. A belief in work that retaliates against the disbelief in it. A pouring of oneself fully into one’s work to restore the irredeemable dignity lost in obedient mechanization.
It’s easy to get caught up in what politically worked in the past. But revolution today cannot achieve the things it could before. The Occupy movement is one example. More awareness of the problem did nothing. What used to have bottom-up functionality is now top-down kitsch. The hope in change today becomes the ghost of power itself. A disbelief in the market system, thrown in reverse, still suffers from the same false sense of identity, moral virtuosity and acesticism. A more functional market atheism could replace the obedient hope provided by mechanistic religiosity, but it’s unclear exactly how. It takes a paradigm shift.
December 16, 2024
I pulled the 253 kindle highlights from this short book into a generative AI application to explore its content a bit more deeply. I identified Stirner and Jünger as important precursors to Campagna's thinking. Additionally it is also easy to pick up Marxist and anarchist ideas and the anti-systemic and transgressive impulse by Georges Bataille. My GenAI partner added Spinoza, Arendt, Foucault, the rhizomatic thinking of Deleuze and Guattari, and the spiritual activism of Simone Weil. I added C.G. Jung and Michel Serres to the list of possible inspirations. Then I asked my thinking partner to intuitively extract two 'principal components', understood as linear combinations of the possible progenitor streams of thought inventoried, and to estimate the variance (or substance in Campagna's book) captured by these component. This is what it came up with:
_PC3: Sacred Eroticism and Ecstasy (Bataille, Jung).
_PC4: Mythic and Temporal Dimensions of Adventure (Jung, Hillman, Arendt).
_PC5: Fluid Relational Ontology (Serres, ecological thought).
This somewhat playful analysis might suggest that Campagna's essay is derivative—and that is likely true. After all, the author was not yet thirty when he published this manifesto. However, that does not diminish its value. The essay offers a compelling argument that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Moreover, it serves as a valuable point of reference for understanding Campagna's later works, where his philosophy of resistance is framed within more esoteric and unconventional theological sources.
PC1: Existential SovereigntyEventually we added three more components to map out the narrative more fully:
Captured Ideas:
_Nietzschean themes of self-overcoming and rejection of absolutes.
_Stirner’s focus on individuality and the critique of "spooks."
_Bataillean transgression, the affirmation of life through abundance, and embracing mortality.
_Campagna’s emphasis on adventure as a personal ontology and a rejection of hope tied to external systems.
% of Variance: High. Estimated ~50%. This component captures a large portion of the existential and individual-level critique, including the psychological and ontological underpinnings of Campagna's philosophy.
PC2: Radical Communal Autonomy
Captured Ideas:
_Marx’s critique of alienation and capitalism as oppressive systems.
_The anarchist ethos of non-hierarchical, voluntary unions (e.g., "unions of egoists").
_Foucault’s focus on power, internalized obedience, and the "care of the self."
_Poststructuralist notions of deconstructing dominant systems and creating pluralistic modes of interaction.
_Adventure as a collective yet fluid and cooperative experience.
% of Variance: High. Estimated ~35%. This component captures the relational and systemic critiques in Campagna’s work, as well as his vision of collective resistance and creativity.
These two components offer a compact way to summarize Campagna’s essayistic variance as autonomy at both individual and collective levels, rooted in a synthesis of existentialism, anarchism, and critical theory.
_PC3: Sacred Eroticism and Ecstasy (Bataille, Jung).
_PC4: Mythic and Temporal Dimensions of Adventure (Jung, Hillman, Arendt).
_PC5: Fluid Relational Ontology (Serres, ecological thought).
This somewhat playful analysis might suggest that Campagna's essay is derivative—and that is likely true. After all, the author was not yet thirty when he published this manifesto. However, that does not diminish its value. The essay offers a compelling argument that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Moreover, it serves as a valuable point of reference for understanding Campagna's later works, where his philosophy of resistance is framed within more esoteric and unconventional theological sources.
June 4, 2018
An engaging book, with some incredibly well written chapters. Federico makes a convincing and fascinating argument for going against the conformity and capitalistic tendencies imbedded in our society, and which show no historical signs of ever changing.
Quite a controversial read, with some beautiful writing at times. Although it was overly long winded, as these types of philosophy and politics books tend to be. Nevertheless, I highly recommended it, as some of his points are very provocative and very captivating.
Quite a controversial read, with some beautiful writing at times. Although it was overly long winded, as these types of philosophy and politics books tend to be. Nevertheless, I highly recommended it, as some of his points are very provocative and very captivating.
January 19, 2019
Very evocative, challenging stuff! Poetic, philosophical, and compelling. Reminds me quite a bit of Neitzsche.
August 2, 2023
This is a dangerous book, challenging the foundations of our societies. I can totally understand why Federico has dedicated it to the teenagers of the world. Love it!
September 6, 2020
Reading this for a second time. Wasn't paying attention first time around.
June 2, 2018
Anti work on social support and with an occasional governmental scholarship. The aberration of an overblown State.
March 26, 2016
makes me want to read more Stirner.
September 21, 2020
Un intento curioso pero sin mucho fundamento.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews