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A Lack of Meaning? Reactive Nihilism and Processual Materiality

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A Lack of Meaning? Reactive Nihilism and Processual Materiality ANNE SAUKA A lack of meaning? Reactive nihilism and processual materiality DOI: https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.91788 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) his article explores the ‘lack of meaning’ in phenomenology authors2 alike. contemporary society as a consequence of Besides the new materialist theories, Western dualist thought paradigms and T the theoretical background of body-ontol- ontologies, via Gilles Deleuze’s concept of ‘reac­ tive nihilism’ following the colloquial murder of ogy connectivity with societal phenom- God. The article then explores processual and ena is particularly exemplified by the cri- new materialist approaches in the understanding tiques of capitalism of Gilles Deleuze and of the lived and carnal self, arguing for immanent Erich Fromm – two very different authors, and senseful materiality as an ethical platform for religious, environmental, and societal soli­ who, however, allow an analysis of the dis- darity for tomorrow. For the theoretical justifica­ tinctions of being, becoming and having tion of the processual approach in understand­ as theoretical models for expressing the ing the enfleshed self, the article employs John genealogical, non-essentialist link between Dupré’s processual approach in the philosophy of biology, as well as Astrida Neimani’s critical ontologies and societies. Having elsewhere posthumanism, and contextualizes these consid­ further elaborated the necessity for using erations with Erich Fromm’s ethical distinction of genealogy in a natureculture context (Sauka being and having. 2020), I here seek to specifically address the ethical use of processual new materialism Introduction for breaching the rift between human and Western society is often criticized for its life sciences and seeking meaning in life consumerism, superficiality, fragmenta- whilst staying with the trouble (Haraway tion of the self, and difficulty in commu- 2016) of today’s scientific developments. nicating. These and similar reprimands are Hence, in this article, I propose to view directed towards capitalism, the overabun- the problem of seeking meaning in life in dance of information, and the new tech- connection with the ontological paradigms nologies, though the real culprit might be of the body, arguing for a genealogical link sought for in the conventional ontological presuppositions that make up the object- oriented perception of embodiment struc- Neimanis (2013, 2014, 2017), Jane Bennett tures in the West and are widely criticized (2010), Rosi Braidotti (2013, 2019), Stacy today by new materialist1 and ‘lived-body’ Alaimo (2010), Karen Barad (2007, 2017) and many others. 2 In particular, Bernhard Waldenfels (2000) 1 Such as Elizabeth Grosz (1994), Astrida and Gernot Böhme (2003, 2019). Approaching Religion • Vol. 10, No. 2 • November 2020 125 between an understanding of the body and the machine’. As a phenomenon sitting on ethical and social praxes and attitudes. To the very fringe of dominant viewpoints for demonstrate this link, I contrast an object- the ethical making of meanings and worlds oriented understanding of the body and the (Campagna 2018), spirituality, is a concept resulting ‘reactive nihilism’ ethical para- in line with the idea of a need to re-enchant digm with that of a processuality of the the world (Stiegler 2014) and functions as lived body, suggesting that the binarity, still a vehicle for presenting the genealogical prevalent in Western thought formations, is landscape of the discourse cluster of ‘reac- deeply connected with the so-called lack of tive nihilism’. meaning, a reversed dualism that hampers I strive to outline an immanent and pro- the relationality of life and human sciences. cessual view of the lived body as a platform Against the backdrop of a link between for varied spiritual beliefs that allows over- the sociopolitical discourse of ‘reac- stepping the usual conflictual relationships tive nihilism’ (Deleuze 2006: 151) and between scientific skepticism and atheism an understanding of the body, this article and religious faith-based convictions and searches for an ethical platform for facili- praxes. tating solidarity between different (scien- The aforementioned problems are tific or religious) perspectives in processual today broadly discussed in new material- and materialist ontologies of the body. ist and posthumanist contexts. As one such The article can, of course, only endeav- example, the inspiring article collection our to highlight a few significant factors Entangled Worlds: Religion, Science, and contributing to the breach of human and New Materialisms (Keller and Rubenstein life sciences and the resulting rift in spir- 2017) can be mentioned. What is import- itual and scientific approaches of life in ant to me here, is to delineate the everyday everyday contexts. The methodological paradigm of reactive nihilism in the West approach here is, therefore, genealogic- that follows a simplified binary and object- al (Sarasin 2009; Foucault 1977), striving oriented thought pattern, regardless of con- to exemplify today’s Western attitudes via crete theoretical approaches in sciences, the example of meaning-making and fig- and creates the (unnecessary) rift between urations of the body. Discourses here are human and life sciences, as well as spirit- viewed in a mat erialist context as non- uality and materiality in the understanding essentialist co-producers of lived material- of life. ities (Sauka 2020). To do this, I turn to Deleuze’s concept The article goes out from the assump- of ‘reactive nihilism’ originally developed tion that although scientific contexts greatly for the analysis of Nietzsche’s commentary vary (and do not per se justify an object- on modernity, in the first part of this article oriented or dualist worldview), the ‘reactive and apply this principle as a characteriza- nihilism’ paradigm often pushes human tion on the ideological backdrop of today’s science and spiritual experiences into the societal discourse in the West. Here, I go realm of the ‘supernatural’ or ‘imaginary’, beyond Deleuze’s original intention, bring- whilst also denying their ontological valid- ing the ontology of the body in conversa- ity. Often conventionally viewed from the tion with reactive nihilism to demonstrate viewpoint of a dualist mindset, spirituality the ontological tie between object-orienta- and human science in a broader sense in tion and nihilist discourse. the West have become the actual ‘ghost in In the second part of the article, I Approaching Religion • Vol. 10, No. 2 • November 2020 126 discuss the processual approach in ontol- Cartesian image of the body as a machine ogy, based on Astrida Neimanis and John with the ‘human machine’ metaphor Dupré’s approaches in posthuman phe- (Sarasin 1998: 419–27) that adds sensibility nomenology and the philosophy of biol- and motion to the previously mechanical ogy respectively. Although I am aware of vision of a subject-controlled res extensa. the rich array of authors discussing these In the eighteenth century, scientists still try topics in new materialist circles, I particu- to elaborate the already-objectified under- larly address these theories to exemplify the standing of a body, understood as a device, congruency of science-oriented and spir- even by looking for empirical evidence of itual environmentalism-oriented philoso- a soul (Sennett 1994: 259). However, the phies and their potential for ethical consist- discoveries in blood circulation, nervous ency and co-productivity. system and breathing (ibid. pp. 255–61) do In the third part of the article, I then not result in the affirmation of a centralized apply Erich Fromm’s distinction of being control system of the body with the brain or and having as compatible with Deleuze’s heart as the only venues of nerve-response idea of becoming, here again broadening or sensibility, but rather a facilitated decen- the usage of this conceptual distinction. tralization of forces in the understanding of The conceptual distinction of being and the body, as well as society. having here is exemplary of the broad scope An expansive objectification of the that object-oriented and processual ontol- ‘nature’ of humankind is, hence, unsur- ogies provide and suggests this distinction prising – the seventeenth-century image as an underlying issue in Western society of the body as a machine has already put that continues to haunt sociopolitical dis- Western society on a path towards further courses in varying forms, as an almost ines- objectification and fragmentation of life capable tension created by the existential forces; viewing the human body as measur- perceptions of the body and the self. My able on the grounds of a mechanical under- aim here is to also delineate the limitations standing of ‘nature’ inescapably leads to the of a processual approach, stating existential acknowledgment of physiological phenom- having as a necessary element of self-per- ena (such as the functions of the nervous ception that upholds the tension between system, and later the endocrine system and becoming and having that is interpreted hormone production) as part of the scien- as a dialectic of I and the Other (Deleuze tifically researchable arena. From the objec- 2006: 8–10). tification of ‘nature’, the objectification of human and non-human bodies logically A lack of meaning: the nineteenth-century follows3 and, thus, societies in the West physiology discourse The context of the situation might be sought for in the concept of the ‘death of 3 I here follow the argumentation of Michel God’. When Nietzsche utters his bold accu- Foucault (1978) (taking into consider- sation: ‘God is dead, God remains dead and ation materiality in Foucault, see Oksala we have killed him’ (Nietzsche 1999a: 481), 2005) and the overall Foucauldian line of it is a sociopolitical statement. The nine- research, in line with my overall research goals to synthesize social constructivist and teenth century comes in with what is some- new materialist/lived-body phenomenol- times referred to as the physiology dis- ogy genealogies of the body and examine course (Sarasin 2000: 51–2), replacing the the impact that body-perceptions and Approaching Religion • Vol.
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