Retreat from Nihilism

This article attempts to elaborate Flusser’s “logic of freedom” as related to nihilistic strains of thought found in his early writings. I suggest that Flusser conceptualizes freedom as partial and narrow, responsive, and negative. Freedom is only possible within, with regard to, and in opposition to the “apparatus” or a coercive order. Underlying this reconstruction is the question about the connection between this logic and the nihilistic strains of thought found in his early writings. I show that the nucleus of the later logic can already be found in these same early writings. Consequently, I argue, the “logic of freedom” should be read as an answer to, and a retreat from, the nihilistic orientation.