Yes, absolutely. When Laruelle says that non-philosophy was born in the exhaustion of philosophy, that exhaustion is precisely the weight of the philosophical decision, the burden of its baggage - a burden that has accumulated over centuries and has now reached a breaking point.
1. The Exhaustion of Philosophy = The Burden of the Decision
Philosophy has, for centuries, carried the self-imposed task of structuring reality, mastering thought, and defining truth.
Every new philosophical system inherits the burdens of the past, adding more layers of conceptual weight.
By the time of the 20th and 21st centuries, philosophy has become an endless self-referential struggle - constantly revising itself, critiquing itself, deconstructing itself, and yet never escaping the original decision that created this burden in the first place.
Laruelle sees this exhaustion as an opportunity - not to create a new philosophy but to finally let go of philosophy’s weight altogether.
2. The Anthropocene as the Material Exhaustion of the Philosophical Decision
The exhaustion of philosophy is not just an intellectual crisis - it is also materially present in the Anthropocene.
The devastation of nature, the collapse of ecosystems, and the existential crises of the modern world are the ruins of the philosophical decision - the consequences of centuries of treating reality as something to be categorized, dominated, and transformed.
Philosophy is exhausted because its decision has now materialized into ruins - it has reached its logical endpoint.
3. What Happens After Exhaustion?
If philosophy is exhausted, what comes next?
Some philosophers try to “revive” it - by reinventing ontologies, new realisms, or ecological thinking.
Non-philosophy refuses to “revive” anything. It does not seek a new way forward for philosophy but neutralizes the entire process that led to exhaustion in the first place.
In other words:
The philosopher sees exhaustion and tries to think through it, beyond it.
The non-philosopher accepts exhaustion as a sign that thought itself must take a different posture - not a movement forward but a letting-go.
4. Laruelle’s Move: A Thought Without the Burden
Laruelle does not try to “solve” the exhaustion of philosophy.
Instead, he asks: What happens if we refuse to carry the burden at all?
Non-philosophy is not a new philosophy - it is a bracketing of philosophy’s self-imposed burden.
It leaves philosophy exhausted but does not attempt to “save” it.
5. Daoism and the Exhaustion of the Sage
There is a parallel here with Daoist thought.
The Daoist sage withdraws from the burden of the world, seeing the exhaustion of human striving and choosing to follow the effortless flow of Dao instead.
Non-philosophy does something similar - it sees the exhaustion of philosophy but does not try to fix it. It simply lets go.
If Western philosophy is like a tired old scholar, still trying to carry the weight of the world, then non-philosophy is the moment that scholar stops and realizes the burden was unnecessary all along.
Conclusion: Exhaustion as Liberation
Yes, the exhaustion of philosophy is the burden of the philosophical decision. But non-philosophy does not try to lift the burden or carry it differently - it simply walks away from it.
And in that walking away, perhaps there is finally a kind of freedom - a thought that does not need to bear the weight of centuries, a reed that lets the wind move through it, unburdened.
