Niilismo, neoliberalismo e catástrofe

Abstract

Nihilism, neoliberalism and catastrophe: Neoliberal subjectivity, as studied by Foucault, Laval and Dardot, ends up reinforcing nihilism, which had already been so well interpreted and conjured up by Nietzsche, back in the 19th century. This process happens mainly through resentment, one of the affections that is present both in the neoliberal subjectivity and in nihilism. In the 21st century, political scientist Wendy Brown has updated this correlation of nihilism and resentment with neoliberalism, showing that today's far-right groups, fearful of losing their positions of privilege, decide to resentfully attack segments of society that have historically been ostracised. Besides Brown, Nietzsche is still a good tool for studying these extremist organisations, showing that the problem is not the release of the will to power from these organisations, but that this will to power is reactive, acting in a negative key, never in a way that creates new affirmative values. The result of this mixture of neoliberalism and resentful nihilism is a worsening climate catastrophe. As Latour explains, the destruction of the world, this maximum nihilism, was a deliberate decision by part of the neoliberal elite precisely when this political-economic format became hegemonic in the West.