Speculative sons of Ulysses and the inhuman “worlds without people”

Abstract

The paper focuses on the repeated and systematic references to the figure of Ulysses in the work of Quentin Meillassoux, Ray Brassier, Eugene Thacker, and Reza Negarestani. These are not random occurrences; Ulysses represents a key figure in the mutually interconnected visions and reflections related to the idea of a “world without people” that binds the named authors implicitly and explicitly to the originally Dantean imagery. Through a detailed exposition of the Ulyssean positions of the philosophers in question, the essay demonstrates twofold: first, that the “nihilistic branch” of speculative realism can be read as a specific inversion of the Dantean agenda, and second, that in light of the arguments of “transcendental nihilism” and the logical radicalization of the Ulyssean figure, Dante’s Divine Comedy can be read as an anachronistic speculative project.

Keywords

• ulysses
• odysseus
• dante alighieri
• quentin meillassoux
• ray brassier
• eugene thacker
• reza negarestani
• new materialism
• speculative realism
• transcendental nihilism
• nihilism
• correlationism
• extinction
• biopolitics
• inhumanity