Critique of Bored Reason

This profound and powerful book is not only a definitive philosophical treatment of boredom as a modern phenomenon but also a courageous and visionary defense of the dialogical, comic and radically democratic ways of being in our dark times! The scholarship is magisterial, the writing lucid and subtle, and the tone so tender and humble! How rare it is to read such an instant classic with heartfelt joy and hard-earned hope! -- Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary
As demonstrated by numerous modern novels, be it by Flaubert, Gontscharov, or Sartre, the spread of boredom as the negative experience of being not practically engaged in the world has become one of the social pathologies of our age. Many social-philosophical studies over the last two-hundred years have been dedicated to this topic, trying to figure out the roots, the physiognomy and the effects of modern boredom, but none has to my knowledge so far succeeded in presenting a conclusive inquiry of its inner architectonic and philosophical substance. Exactly this is what Dmitri Nikulin fantastically manages in his new book to achieve: By combining conceptual history and systematic analysis, he lays out the deficiencies of the modern understanding of subjectivity that explain why we are permanently haunted by the anxiety of becoming bored and over-reflexive. Everyone who has an interest in this predicament of our existential situation should certainly read this tremendous book! -- Axel Honneth, author of Freedom's Right: The Social Foundations of Democratic Life
Critique of Bored Reason is an original and ambitious account of modern subjectivity and autonomy. Nikulin proves the surprising thesis that the experience of boredom was unknown to the ancient world. What some moderns present as a universal attribute of the human condition is thus a form of historical experience, linked to the limits of how modernity has thought about the subject and its relationships with others. -- Barbara Carnevali, author of Social Appearances: A Philosophy of Display and Prestige
Nikulin's book is an exciting reading, based on impressive scholarship, rigorous analysis, and breadth of vision. It has fascinating pages on boredom in Kracauer and Benjamin, on scandal and radicality. Reason is bored because it is the pure reason of a modern monological subject, intrinsically tragic in its solitary autonomous legislation. By contrast Nikulin appeals to the virtues of a comic reason, decentered and in dialogue with others, to rethink politics and democracy. -- Alfredo Ferrarin, author of Thinking and the I: Hegel and the Critique of Kant
In this powerful historical and systematic philosophical demontage, Dmitri Nikulin analyses the modern condition in a fascinating new way. No book could be more exciting than this learned treatise on boredom, full of wit and novel insights. -- Rainer Forst, author of The Right to Justification: Elements of a Constructivist Theory of Justice
Ambitious, well-written, and marked by welcome touches of humor, Critique of Bored Reason is distinguished by extraordinary erudition, impressive expository and interpretative powers, and a genuinely constructive impulse that is grounded in a very deep knowledge of the tradition of philosophy. -- William Desmond, author of The Intimate Universal: The Hidden Porosity Among Religion, Art, Philosophy, and Politics