Depressive ontology seduces because it is half true

Evidence

Depressive ontology is dangerously seductive because, as the zombie twin of a certain philosophical wisdom, it is half true. As the depressive withdraws from the vacant confections of the lifeworld, he unwittingly finds himself in concordance with the human condition so painstakingly diagrammed by a philosopher like Spinoza: he sees himself as a serial consumer of empty simulations, a junky hooked on every kind of deadening high, a meat puppet of the passions. The depressive cannot even lay claim to the comforts that a paranoiac can enjoy, since he cannot believe that the strings are being pulled by any one. — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, 144

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that depression is ‘the zombie twin of philosophical wisdom’ and the crucial asymmetry with paranoia (no belief in a puller of strings) is exceptionally dense and original.
• XREF: connects to: Depression’s danger lies in its claim to reveal final truth — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 139; Depression constitutes a theory of the world, marshaling instances as evidence — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 138; Depression is a philosophical disposition, not merely sadness or a state of mind — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 141 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Depression’s felt realism mirrors capitalist realism’s lowered expectations #expands (0.90) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1489
• Capitalist realism’s self-diagnosed realism mirrors the fatalism of depressive realism #expands (0.85) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2217