This text re-reads Western history in the light of nihilistic logic which pervades two millennia of Western thought. From Parmenides to Alain Badiou via Plotinus Avicenna Duns Scotus Ockham Descartes Spinoza Kant Hegel Heidegger Sartre Lacan Deleuze and Derrida a genealogy of nothingness can be witnessed in development with devastating consequences for the way we live.