Genealogy of Nihilism

by Conor Cunningham

This text re-reads Western history in the light of nihilistic logic, which pervades two millennia of Western thought. From Parmenides to Alain Badiou, via Plotinus, Avicenna, Duns Scotus, Ockham, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Sartre, Lacan, Deleuze and Derrida, a genealogy of nothingness can be witnessed in development, with devastating consequences for the way we live.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Ebooks

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2002

Reviews

[Adam Carnehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

An expansive and learned text - though, I think, not written for the average reader - "Genealogy of Nihilism" is a key text of the "Radical Orthodoxy" movement. It's written by the Northern Irish theologian Conor Cunningham who is a professor of philosophical theology at the University of Nottingham, and is always doing something interesting at the intersection of contemporary science, religion, and phenomenology.

This work covers a very broad topic - nihilism - at a very broad spectrum. Cunningham explores thinkers as diverse as Avicenna (d. 1037) and Alain Badiou (b. 1937) and along the way, marshals plenty of insights from theologians and Christian poets as diverse as Charles Peguy and Thomas Aquinas, Rene Guenon and Gregory of Nyssa, Paul Evdokimov and Augustine. The first half of the book explores the nihilistic logic ("nothing as something") from the ancient period onwards into the contemporary French philosophical "scene." There are substantial engagements with Plotinus, Avicenna, Duns Scotus, Ockham, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Sartre, and the more modern French atheist philosophers, such as Deleuze, Lacan, and Badiou. These chapters are not for the philosophical beginner! Cunningham presupposes his reader has engaged with all of these thinkers, at least indirectly or through secondary literature; he doesn't "introduce" them or orient the reader to their thought. His argument specifically deals with the nihilism, the "nothing," the void which lurks within their work and arguments.

Cunningham's argument is both complex and nuanced, but I'll seek to summarize it here:

Nihilism leads to death and to disintegration, of individuals, societies, and cultures. Nihilism purports that there is nothing, there can be no difference between a murder and an ice cream cone; if there is no divine structure, no transcendence - then all we can do is note the rearrangement of atoms in things. There is no significance. With nihilistic logic we could sink into tyrannies (such as National Socialism) and social/cultural suicide. Cunningham notes this alarmingly, and this book was written to trace the genealogy of nihilism, allowing us to see how various thinkers and ideas led to the place we find ourselves now, and therefore, how theology gives a unique answer which rescues us from the abyss of meaninglessness and non-being. Theology's answer is love. Cunningham advances that theology wastes time either trying to demonstrate how our being is from God's being (Ockhamist univocity) or that God has no being and neither do we (Marion's ontotheological phenomenology). Instead, theology must talk about being in terms of love; there is a flowing forth of being from Being, of love from Love. Love enables difference, and the Trinity is a perichoresis of limitless love - love which delights in creation, not as a change, but as a difference, a newness. If there is something theology can learn from nihilism, it's that all attempts to ground God and the transcendentals in anything other than Triune love are fruitless.

This book will reward future reads and re-reads. It is extremely dense, but there are so many moments of insight, so many new ways of conceiving the task of theology. It's truly a remarkable book, and I look forward to reading through my notes and contemplating it further.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much do not know how to take this book. I have read multiple reviews that suggest this is one of the easier reads in the RO series, and that Cunningham elucidates the thought of the philosophers whom he analyzes. I am not sure where I mis-stepped and got off the interpretive path, but I found Cunningham's book immensely difficult, much more so than the other RO books I have read. Further, I felt that he obscured rather than clarified the thought of some of the philosophers. Also I felt the task of revealing inherent nihilism in Modern philosophy was a bit off target. A more accurate (and more interesting) stated goal would have been to sure the inherent paganism in "secular" thought and how various philosophers reconfigured pagan philosophy. It may even then be argued that paganism is related, similar, connected, or synonymous with nihilism. But I felt that Cunningham may have had to skew philosophers thought in order to show them as inherently nihilistic when they emerged to be more pagan. That being said, I did find Cunningham's book very interesting. His treatment of the selected philosophers, while occasionally skewed as mentioned above, was still very well researched (several chapters had 200+ end notes) and fairly innovative. The second part of the book offers a comprehensive view of nihilism with an alternative philosophy (theology) grounded in Trinitarian thought. While nihilism makes all difference equal, and thus not so different (indifferent, even), Trinitarian theology respects difference. And while nihilism treats and utilize nothing as something, theology asserts that creation is something out of nothing. Thus difference is respected, and discourse can continue in theology. Interesting, but I think I will need a second read to adequately review it. I clearly missed something. But what I got, I thought was very useful for theology.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like parts one and two were almost two separate texts; the jump from the genealogy to the theology seemed a bit tenuous. Nonetheless, a provocative and challenging read. Even though my mind remains outside the R.O. camp they continue to put out fresh and innovative ideas.

[Robert Tessmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is almost impossible for me to do this book justice. The author obviously had a much more philosophically educated reader in mind when writing this book. Oh well, I always say "nothing ventured, nothing gained". Oh wait, maybe it was Friedrich Nietzsche who says this.

[Zak Zak · Rating 1 out of 5]

Conor Cunningham, philosopher and Christian apologist

for fuck's sake !