1 IV 1 Speculations 1 Speculationsspe 1 1 cul 1 1 ati 1 1 ons 1 1 IV 1 Speculations IV [email protected] www.speculations-journal.org Editors Michael Austin Paul J. Ennis Fabio Gironi Thomas Gokey Robert Jackson isbn-10 0615797865 isbn-13 978-0615797861 issn 2327-803x Designed by Thomas Gokey v 1.0 punctum books ✴ brooklyn, ny n b s a r c 2013 5 Editorial Introduction REFLECTIONS PROPOSALS 9 Lee Braver 65 Jeffrey A. Bell On Not Settlingthe Issue of Realism “The World is an Egg” Realism, Mathematics, and the Thresholds of Difference 15 Levi R. Bryant 71 Manuel DeLanda Politics and Speculative Realism Ontological Commitments 22 Graham Harman 74 Markus Gabriel The Current State of Speculative Realism The Meaning of “Existence” and the Contingency of Sense 28 Eileen A. Joy 84 Peter Gratton Weird Reading Post-Deconstructive Realism It’s About Time 35 Adam Kotsko 91 Adrian Johnston A Dangerous Supplement Points of Forced Freedom Speculative Realism, Academic Blogging, and Eleven (More) Theses on Materialism the Future of Philosophy 38 Christopher Norris 99 Paul M. Livingston Speculative Realism Realism and the Infinite Interim Report with Just a Few Caveats 48 Jon Roffe 108 John Mullarkey The Future of an Illusion How to Behave Like a Non-Philosopher Or, Speculative Versus Revisionary Metaphysics 53 Daniel Sacilotto 113 Dylan Trigg Realism and Representation “The Horror of Darkness” On the Ontological Turn Toward an Unhuman Phenomenology EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION keep speculative zeal under control, and we need a speculative will to avoid a realism amounting to little more than an encyclopaedic catalogue of the With this special issue of Speculations we wanted to existent. Such a minimal interpretive key, it seems, challenge the contested term “speculative realism,” can leave enough semantic wriggle room to allow offering scholars who have some involvement with for different stances to be included. it a space to voice their opinions of the network of Whatever the intrinsic value in the name, the con- ideas commonly associated with the name. tributors to this volume have all engaged, more or Whilst undoubtedly born under speculative less directly, with a critical analysis of the vices and realist auspices, Speculations has never tried to be virtues of “speculative realism”: from the extent to the gospel of a dogmatic speculative realist church, which its adversarial stance towards previous phil- but rather instead to cultivate the best theoretical osophical stances is justified to whether it succeeds lines sprouting from the resurgence, in the last (or fails) to address satisfactorily the concerns that few years, of those speculative and realist concerns ostensibly motivate it, through to an assessment of attempting to break free from some of the most the methods of dissemination of its core ideas. The stringent constraints of critique. Sociologist Randall contributions are divided in two sections, titled Collins observed that, unlike other fields of intel- “Reflections” and “Proposals,” describing, with some lectual inquiry, “[p]hilosophy has the peculiarity inevitable overlap, two kinds of approach to the of periodically shifting its own grounds, but always question of speculative realism: one geared towards in the direction of claiming or at least seeking the its retrospective and its critical appraisal and the standpoint of greatest generality and importance.”1 other concerned with the positive proposition of If this is the case, to deny that a shift of groundshas alternative or parallel approaches to it. We believe indeed become manifest in these early decades of that the final result, in its heterogeneity, will be of the twenty-first century would be, at best, a sign of a better service to the philosophical community than severe lack of philosophical sensitivity. On the other a dubiously univocal descriptive recapitulation of hand, whether or not this shift has been towards “speculative realist tenets.” greater importance (and in respect to what?) is not While proud of the form that this special issue only a legitimate but a necessary question to ask. has taken, there is one aspect we regret: as all too For those interested in answering it, that of whether often is the case for publications in our field (and “speculative realism” might be the best name for this unfortunately many others), a quick glance at the new cluster of concerns is, we believe, an altogether list of contributors will reveal a severe gender im- moot conundrum. Initially associated with a list balance. In the interests of full disclosure (there of proper names, the “speculative realist” network is no point in being apologetically evasive on this of intellectual influences has now spread widely issue, especially when commendable initiatives throughout various academic environments (often like the Gendered Conference Campaign are very reaching beyond philosophy), preserving an iden- publicly raising the awareness of the philosophical tity via its association with realist and post-critical community), we have tried our best to minimise this ambitions, and eliciting reactions ranging from imbalance, although with poor results. Given the overtly-enthusiastic adoption to sneering dismissal. constraints we posed on the eligibility of invitees (of While the term should be used with caution since either gender) we did our best to identify qualified certain sectarian appropriations of it remain a female scholars with direct links to “speculative danger to be avoided (as is always the case with new realist” networks. Unfortunately, of ten such female intellectual currents promising a break with the scholars who received our invitation all but one past), critics cannot just wish “speculative realism” had to—for various reasons—decline. out of existence. We would like to thank all the contributors for their Having to deal with it, and in order to endow it with participation in this project: whether or not one some heuristic value, an argument in favour of the believes in something like philosophical progress, term “speculative realism” could perhaps be offered. it can only be through the intellectual exchange that If there is virtue in it, it lies in the way in which the papers such as theirs will doubtlessly elicit that a two words should be interpreted as keeping each new step towards the clarification of contemporary other in check, mutually constraining their respective philosophical projects can be taken. We wouldn’t ambitions: we need grounded realist commitments dream of presenting this volume as the last word (of both epistemological and ontological kinds) to on the issue of “speculative realism,” but we would 1 Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global like to hope that it might become something of a Theory of Intellectual Change(Cambridge, MA: Harvard milestone along the way. University Press, 1998), 19. 5 Reflections LEE BRAVER information they give. Methodological doubt is his way out of the cave by revealing the mathematical N OT ETTLING HE SSUE OF EALISM O N S T I R properties that are true because they do not vary among perceivers or across time. The lesson of Philosophy is a means of escape. Our presence these meta-physicians is that we must not settle for in this world is an accident, in both senses of the the world we see around us, but must ever strive to word, an unfortunate fate that has befallen us as we transcend it, for the sake of our minds and our souls. have fallen into it. This is a world of shadows and Now Kant—Kant is an interesting figure in this reflections, of illusions and elisions, of waste and narrative, as he is in so many histories. Kant is the death. It is a reality in decay that has, paradoxically, Janus-faced philosopher. Equal parts empiricist always been in decay, a ruins that was never whole. and rationalist, he both brings the early modern We are in this world, but we do not belong here. period to a close and opens up the space for nine- We yearn for a reality that is real, and a truth that teenth-century thought, which largely consists of a is true. Since these are not to be found among the series of footnotes to Kant. He is the last of the great detritus of everyday life, we must seek it in a world continental realists and at the same time the first in beyond or behind this one, a realm that truly exists the line of German idealists, a committed determinist because it has no whiff of non-existence about while simultaneously a passionate libertarian. He it—no destruction, no imperfections, no suffering, has been praised as the great philosophical hope for no death. Our duty in this life is to escape this life, finally defeating skepticism, and denounced as the to withdraw physically, emotionally, intellectually, ultimate skeptic. It is small wonder that he is master spiritually from these shadows, to slip the bonds of the antinomy, the philosophical expression of that hold us—to escape. And philosophy is what finding oneself pulled inexorably in contradictory shows us our goal and guides us to it. directions. In Yogi Berra’s words, whenever Kant We are born into a particular place, a particular came to a fork in the road, he took it. culture, body, appetites, but these are not who we With regard to our topic, Kant both embraces really are. Like King Arthur, we are of royal blood and rejects Plato’s story. He argues that humans are hidden in a commoner’s house, or like Harry Potter inescapably drawn to transcendent investigations, we are really a wizard in muggle’s clothing. In phi- while working to persuade us in, let’s be honest, at losophy, our true self is reason. When we think, we times excruciating detail to content ourselves with turn away from bodily pleasures and distractions to immanent concerns.1 He secures the necessary and pure intellectual contemplation, from the contingent universal knowledge of one realm while forbidding to the essential, from the shadows of the cave to the all knowledge of the other.