@philosophyminis: #Hauntology is the idea that we are haunted by lost futures. It's when our entire outlook on life is framed by disappointment. We were promised one thing, but we got this instead. For example, in the late 20th century, many Marxist philosophers couldn't understand why the Marxist predictions for progress hadn't happened, and so they were left squinting at where and why it went wrong. And while the idea was coined first by Jacques #Derrida in his discussion of Marxism in recent times, it's been repurposed by the philosopher Mark Fisher to be far broader. For Fisher, hauntology is a ‘nostalgia for the future.’ It's when we take stock of our lives and, in a moment of bleakness, say, ‘This isn't what it's supposed to be like.’ Fisher talks about how the 1990s were this period of huge optimism in the West. This was the ‘end of #history ,’ the end of wars, and the incoming of a technological #utopia . Hauntology is the feeling that we were robbed of some promised uplands, but it can also be more personal too. It can be when somebody is staring in the #mirror and sees a wrinkled, grey, and weathered face staring back at them. It's when we look back at all of the years gone by and we say, ‘This isn't where I wanted to be. This isn't what I wanted to look like.’ Hauntology is a sad disconnect between what we wanted from #life in our #youth and what life gave us in our old age. So how far is your outlook on life defined by the broken #promises of a lost #future ?

Jonny Thomson

Open In TikTok:

Region: GB

Saturday 11 January 2025 15:45:00 GMT