Fatelessness - by Ray Brassier (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A bold call to awaken from capitalism's fatal spell and reclaim our power to undo the illusion of fate.

Capitalism is the fatal power driving ecocide and genocide. It bewitches us into accepting it as our fate, promising freedom for all while enslaving the many for the benefit of the few. Breaking this fatal spell requires recognizing capitalism as the work of human hands. Fate is never simply what befalls us; it is the consequence of what we have done. This is why it can be undone. Communism is not a series of historical failures to be condemned, or a future promise in which we should invest our faith. It is simply the abolition of fate, the movement through which we undo the illusion of necessity.

About the Author

Ray Brassier is Professor of Philosophy at the American University of Beirut and a founding member of the Beirut Institute for Critical Analysis and Research (BICAR), which aims to promote critical thought and analysis with a special focus on Lebanon and the Middle East. His first book was Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction. He is the translator of Alain Badiou's St. Paul: The Foundation of Universalism and Quentin Meillassoux's After Finitude. He edited Alain Badiou's Theoretical Writings (with Alberto Toscano), Nick Land's Fanged Noumena (with Robin Mackay), and Herbert Marcuse's Psychoanalysis, Politics, and Philosophy: Five Lectures. He lives in Beirut, Lebanon.