The Specter of the Absurd: Sources and Criticisms of Modern Nihilism (Philosophy

by Donald A. Crosby

This book is our century's most comprehensive and wise treatment of nihilism in all of its guises, comparing favorably with Rosen, Cavell, and indeed with Spengler. Crosby argues that our culture is genuinely haunted by nihilism expressing itself in the fideism of fundamentalism as well as in the debilitating alienation from all orientation. This results from a one-sided development of Western culture.

Unlike most writers on this topic, Crosby acknowledges many sources colluding to frame the culture of nihilism, including "the death of God," the objectification of nature, the meaninglessness of suffering in a mechanical universe, the ephemerality of time in a world where value does not accumulate, the arbitrariness of historicized reason, the reduction of value to will, and the alienation of the Cartesian ego. These sources are reviewed in the first two parts of the book with the result that the phenomenon of nihilism becomes understandable.

In its third and fourth parts, Crosby provides a critical analysis of the religious and philosophical forces leading to nihilism by discussing authors from the early modern period through Dostoyevsky, Sartre, Russell, and Derrida. He shows that these forces are skewed and impoverished and should not be allowed to determine our situation. The comprehensive attention to detail and the multi-perspectival interpretation demonstrates as well as asserts the richness of the culture that puts nihilism in its place.

Part Five, finally, rephrases the criticism of the sources of nihilism in positive ways.

Part Four in particular is a tour de force of philosophical argument. Its richness of nuance, plurality of views examined, and adroitness of critical interpretation provide cumulatively a powerful, non-nihilistic reading of the philosophic tradition.

The force of the argument derives from its comprehensive, cumulative character. Crosby distinguishes and relates five areas of political, moral, epistemological, cosmic, and existential. Throughout the book, he illustrates and examines these as they are expressed in literature and art, in daily life and practical affairs, and in philosophy. The book is richly erudite in its marshalling of consciousness from so many domains.

Genres: Philosophy

456 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1988

Reviews

[Lnshift9xshift0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

作者似乎患上了虚无主义恐惧症，无论冒多大逻辑不严谨的风险也要拼尽全力反驳虚无主义。
我不是人文学科出身，通过这本书，我似乎认识到了社会学家作出假设、得出结论的过程是多么不可靠，比如说作者假设某某暗含虚无主义的思想导致某一社会现象，但是，作者有何理由逻辑充分地说明就是这个思想成为了当时的思潮呢？如何说明这个思潮确实会产生如他所描述的社会影响呢？即使前两个问题都得到证明，那又如何说明这个思想产生的影响正是某社会现象的主要成因呢？在书中，作者在没有数据或其他资料的情况下，做出了很多类似的不可靠的判断，与其说作者做出了一些判断，简直不如说作者提出了一些假说。
这些的慌乱的行为背后是作者对虚无主义的恐惧（当然，某种程度上可以通过上文的批评说我这个判断也是不甚可靠的），在作者看来，无论哪种虚无主义都是无论如何都需要全力避免的东西，无论付出什么代价，这对我来说不可理喻。