Against 'Flat Ontologies'
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Ray Brassier: Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK, 2007, 296 Pp, ISBN 9780230522046, US $84.95 (Cloth)
Cont Philos Rev (2010) 42:583–589 DOI 10.1007/s11007-009-9127-8 Ray Brassier: Nihil unbound: enlightenment and extinction Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke, UK, 2007, 296 pp, ISBN 9780230522046, US $84.95 (cloth) Knox Peden Published online: 12 January 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Punctuated by paeans to ‘‘the coruscating potency of reason’’ and the ‘‘dissociative virulence of…non-dialectical negativity,’’ Ray Brassier’s Nihil Unbound: Enlight- enment and Extinction is a work of philosophy committed to the ‘‘labor of disenchantment initiated by Galileo in the physical realm, continued by Darwin in the biological sphere, and currently being extended by cognitive science to the domain of mind’’ (xi, 45, 40). The defacement of the ‘‘book of the world’’ accomplished during the Enlightenment beckons ‘‘an invigorating vector of intellectual discovery, rather than a calamitous diminishment’’ (xi). This is because ‘‘[t]hinking has interests that do not coincide with those of living; indeed, they can and have been pitted against the latter’’ (xi). Pursuing these interests, Brassier develops a concept of the ‘‘will to know’’ congruent with a ‘‘will to nothingness’’ impervious to the countervailing force of the ‘‘will to live.’’ It is not the least of the ironies of Nihil Unbound that a work committed to marshalling the rigorous stringency of reason against the affective finesse of interpretation often produces claims that connect with the gut as much as the mind. Committed though he is to the notion that words are categorically weak objects for philosophical thought, Brassier nonetheless gets a lot of mileage out of them. -
Language After Philosophy of Nature: Schelling’S Geology of Divine Names
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Liverpool Repository LANGUAGE AFTER PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE: SCHELLING’S GEOLOGY OF DIVINE NAMES DANIEL WHISTLER Each mineral is a real philological problem.1 Future commentary on Dante belongs to the natural sciences… No one has yet approached Dante with a geologist’s hammer, in order to ascertain the crystalline structure of his rock, in order to study the particles of other minerals in it, to study its smoky colour, its garish patterning, to judge it as a mineral crystal which has been subjected to the most varied series of accidents.2 What happens to language after the post-linguistic turn? In what does a speculative approach to religion consist? Such are the two questions around which this essay is structured. It is not my purpose to give a comprehensive answer to either question; rather, I am concerned with one very specific approach that could be taken, and this is the approach of F.W.J. Schelling. Schelling has never been so relevant, and this is in no small part thanks to Iain Hamilton Grant’s Philosophies of Nature after Schelling. Grant’s work–part of the recent resurgence in speculative philosophies—has been instrumental in presenting Schelling’s Naturphilosophie as a viable pursuit for philosophy in the wake of Deleuze. This chapter is intended as a “regional application” of Grant’s presentation of Schelling onto philosophy of language and religion. It is important to stress straight-off that, while language and the numinous may well be two of the deconstructionist’s favourite tools for undermining theoretical discourse, this chapter has no such aim. -
Certificate for Approving the Dissertation
MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Kevin J. Rutherford Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Director (Jason Palmeri) Reader (Michele Simmons) Reader (Heidi McKee) Reader (Kate Ronald) Graduate School Representative (Bo Brinkman) ABSTRACT PACK YOUR THINGS AND GO: BRINGING OBJECTS TO THE FORE IN RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION by Kevin J. Rutherford This dissertation project focuses on object-oriented rhetoric (OOR), a perspective that questions the traditional notions of rhetorical action as solely a human province. The project makes three major, interrelated claims: that OOR provides a unique and productive methodology to examine the inclusion of the non-human in rhetorical study; that to some extent, rhetoric has always been interested in the way nonhuman objects interact with humans; and that these claims have profound implications for our activities as teachers and scholars. Chapter one situates OOR within current scholarship in composition and rhetoric, arguing that it can serve as a useful methodology for the field despite rhetoric’s traditional focus on epistemology and human symbolic action. Chapter two examines rhetorical history to demonstrate that a view of rhetoric that includes nonhuman actors is not new, but has often been marginalized. Chapter three examines two videogames as sites of theory and practice for object-oriented rhetoric, specifically focusing on a sense of metaphor to understand the experience of nonhuman rhetors. Chapter four interrogates the network surrounding a review aggregation website to argue that, while some nonhumans may be unhelpful rhetorical collaborators, OOR can assist us in improving relationships with them. -
147 Levi R. Bryant. Onto-Cartography: an Ontology Of
Philosophy in Review XXXVI (August 2016), no. 4 Levi R. Bryant. Onto-Cartography: An Ontology of Machines and Media. Edinburgh University Press 2014. 312 pp. $130.00 USD (Hardcover ISBN 9780748679966); $39.95 USD (Paperback ISBN 9780748679973). Levi Bryant characterizes himself as a fervent convert who has recently ‘awoken from [the] dogmatic slumbers’ of historical materialism to produce an anti-humanist political philosophy that dispenses with the ‘discursivism’ and anthropocentrism that has dominated Western philosophy for far too long (4). He has sought to displace the prevailing assumptions of cultural studies and critical theory by crafting a materialist metaphysics that decentralizes humanity and proposes a practice—onto- cartography—that demonstrates how the natural environment shapes our social relations. This new ontological framework, he argues, will allow us to develop more effective strategies for the estab- lishment of justice. The practice of onto-cartography presupposes what Bryant calls a machine-oriented ontol- ogy. Bryant proposes that ‘all beings’, ‘all entities, things, or objects are machines’ (18, 23). According to this model, being consists entirely of machines ‘at a variety of different levels of scale’, from galaxies and social institutions to subatomic particles (6). He broadly defines a machine as any system of operations that takes on inputs and transforms them to produce outputs. So, for example, a tree is a machine that absorbs sunlight and carbon dioxide and, through the process of photosyn- thesis, operates on those inputs to produce oxygen, its output. Moreover, all machines are enmeshed in a fabric of assemblages or a network of machines. An assemblage is a system of relations between ‘coupled’ machines in which particular machinic nodes shape the functioning and development of other machines within the field of relations. -
Degruyter Opphil Opphil-2020-0105 314..334 ++
Open Philosophy 2020; 3: 314–334 Object-Oriented Ontology and Its Critics Graham Harman* The Battle of Objects and Subjects: Concerning Sbriglia and Žižek’s Subject Lessons Anthology https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0105 received April 8, 2020; accepted June 16, 2020 Abstract: This article mounts a defense of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) from various criticisms made in Russell Sbriglia and Slavoj Žižek’sco-edited anthology Subject Lessons. Along with Sbriglia and Žižek’s own Introduction to the volume, the article responds to the chapters by Todd McGowan, Adrian Johnston, and Molly Anne Rothenberg, the three in which my own version of OOO is most frequently discussed. Keywords: Ljubljana School, Object-Oriented Ontology, Slavoj Žižek, G. W. F. Hegel, Jacques Lacan, thing- in-itself, materialism, realism Russell Sbriglia and Slavoj Žižek’sco-edited collection Subject Lessons: Hegel, Lacan, and the Future of Materialism has long been awaited in circles devoted to Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO).¹ All twelve chapters in the anthology (eleven plus the editors’ Introduction) are written from the merciless Lacano- Hegelian standpoint that defines the Ljubljana School, one of the most fruitful trends in the continental philosophy of recent decades.² The Slovenian core of the group is here – Žižek, Mladen Dolar, and Alenka Zupančič – as are many of their most capable international allies (though Joan Copjec is keenly missed), along with some impressive younger voices. As a rule, the book is most impressive when making a positive case for what G. W. F. Hegel and Jacques Lacan still have to offer contemporary philosophy; all of the chapters are clearly written, and some are among the most lucid statements I have seen from the Ljubljana group. -
Introduction Christoph Cox, Jenny Jaskey, and Suhail Malik
Introduction Christoph Cox, Jenny Jaskey, and Suhail Malik Realism and materialism have become important watchwords in intellectual and cultural discourse today. Despite their di!erences, these philosophical stances propose that thought can think outside itself, that reality can be known without its being shaped by and for human comprehension. This position sharply contrasts with the philosophical and cultural view dominant over the last half century, a view that a"rms the indispensability of interpretation, discourse, textuality, signi#cation, ideology, and power. Diverse as they are, the theoretical pro- grams that constitute this latter orthodoxy (notably phenomenology, hermeneu- tics, post- structuralism, deconstruction, and psychoanalysis) maintain that our apprehension of the natural and social worlds is either constituted or mediated by a discursive #eld or a cognitive subject, and that nothing—or nothing mean- ingful—exists outside of discourse or its socially- organized construction. In short, this orthodoxy has been staunchly anti-realist. Today’s realism and materialism explicitly challenge many of these now prevalent assumptions of cultural practice and theoretical inquiry. Realism Materialism Art (RMA) presents a snapshot of the emerging and rapidly changing set of ideas, practices, and challenges proposed by contemporary realisms and materialisms, re$ecting their nascent reworking of art, philosophy, culture, theory, and science, among other #elds. Further, RMA strives to expand the hori- zons and terms of engagement with -
The Problem: the Theory of Ideas in Ancient Atomism and Gilles Deleuze
Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013 The rP oblem: The Theory of Ideas in Ancient Atomism and Gilles Deleuze Ryan J. Johnson Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Johnson, R. (2013). The rP oblem: The Theory of Ideas in Ancient Atomism and Gilles Deleuze (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/706 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PROBLEM: THE THEORY OF IDEAS IN ANCIENT ATOMISM AND GILLES DELEUZE A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College & Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Ryan J. Johnson May 2014 Copyright by Ryan J. Johnson 2014 ii THE PROBLEM: THE THEORY OF IDEAS IN ANCIENT ATOMISM AND GILLES DELEUZE By Ryan J. Johnson Approved December 6, 2013 _______________________________ ______________________________ Daniel Selcer, Ph.D Kelly Arenson, Ph.D Associate Professor of Philosophy Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ______________________________ John Protevi, Ph.D Professor of Philosophy (Committee Member) ______________________________ ______________________________ James Swindal, Ph.D. Ronald Polansky, Ph.D. Dean, McAnulty College & Graduate Chair, Department of Philosophy School of Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT THE PROBLEM: THE THEORY OF IDEAS IN ANCIENT ATOMISM AND GILLES DELEUZE By Ryan J. Johnson May 2014 Dissertation supervised by Dr. -
Hegel 250—Too Late?
HEGEL 250—TOO LATE? Ljubljana 2020 HEGEL 250—TOO LATE? ANALECTA Publisher: Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo Publishing board: Miran Božovič, Mladen Dolar, Rado Riha, Alenka Zupančič (president), Slavoj Žižek Edited by Mladen Dolar Copyedited by Tanja Dominko and Eric Powell Cover Design by AOOA Layout by Klemen Ulčakar Printed by Ulčakar Grafika First Edition Circulation 200 Ljubljana 2020 This publication has been co-published in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Ljubljana. CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 1Hegel G.W.F.(082) HEGEL 250 - too late? / [edited by Mladen Dolar]. - 1st ed. - Ljubljana : Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo : Goethe-Institut, 2020. - (Zbirka Analecta) (Problemi ; let. 58, 11-12) (Problemi International ; 2020, 4) ISBN 978-961-6376-94-5 (Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo) COBISS.SI-ID 61238531 Table of Contents Hegel Reborn: A Brief Introduction to HEGEL 250—TOO LATE? Árpád-Andreas Sölter. 5 Hegel’s Time! Ana Jovanović, Bara Kolenc, Urban Šrimpf, Goran Vranešević. 9 Nadia Bou Ali and Ray Brassier After Too Late: The Endgame of Analysis. 11 Mladen Dolar What’s the Time? On Being Too Early or Too Late in Hegel’s Philosophy. 31 Luca Illetteratti Nature’s Externality: Hegel’s Non-Naturalistic Naturalism. .51 Zdravko Kobe The Time of Philosophy: On Hegel’s Conception of Modern Philosophy . 73 Bara Kolenc Is It Too Late?. 91 Christian Krijnen “What, if Anything, Has Not Been Called Philosophizing?” On the Relevance of Hegel’s Conception of a Philosophical History of Philosophy. 119 Gregor Moder What Is To Be Done: On the Theatricality of Power. 143 Nadia Bou Ali and Ray Brassier Sebastian Rödl Thinking Nothing . -
RAY BRASSIER Pete Wolfendale
RAY BRASSIER Pete Wolfendale Ray Brassier is a Scottish philosopher largely responsible for popularising Meillassoux’s work in the Anglophone world. He published one of the first critical engagements with Meillassoux’s work in English and was the translator of the first English edition of After Finitude. He was also one of the principal organisers and one of the four speakers at the infamous ‘Speculative Realism’ conference at Goldsmiths college in 2007, though he has since distanced himself from that term. He has consistently criticised what he sees as the elision of epistemological problems in Anglophone continental philosophy, and the ignorance and sometimes hostility to the natural sciences that is often associated with it. There is a profound affinity between Brassier’s criticisms and Meillassoux’s critique of correlationism, insofar as they both insist on the necessity of taking the results of natural science literally, but there is equally an affinity between their positive positions, insofar as they are both committed to the revival of rationalism in contemporary philosophy. Nevertheless, Brassier has a number of important disagreements with Meillassoux, some of which have grown more serious as his position has developed and changed in recent years. We will begin by presenting an outline of Brassier’s thought in his book Nihil Unbound, and the criticisms of Meillassoux found therein, before addressing how these have developed since its publication. Nihil Unbound connects a number of different themes, structured around the core contention that nihilism is “not an existential quandary but a speculative opportunity.”1 He takes it that nihilism is the logical conclusion of the progressive disenchantment of nature by science begun in the enlightenment, through which conceptual thought comes to be seen as something manifest in causal processes amenable to naturalistic explanation and normative value comes to be seen as something projected upon nature by these same processes. -
Quantum Queer: Towards a Non-Standard Queer Theory1 Michael O’Rourke Independent Colleges, Dublin
IDENTITIES journal for politics, gender and culture Quantum Queer: Towards a Non-Standard Queer Theory1 Michael O’Rourke Independent Colleges, Dublin Abstract: This essay looks at some potentially fruitful lines of correspondence between Laruelle’s non-philosophy and gender, feminist and queer theories. Drawing on the work of leading Laruelle scholars I seek to outline some highly tentative principles for a non-standard queer theory which would help us to think about democracy, the human, performativity, sexual difference and some other crucial questions for current queer theorizing. Keywords: Laruelle, queer theory, non-philosophy, flat ontology, the human, sexual difference, the stranger. Black Box The French non-philosopher François Laruelle writes that: Like an artisan, engineer, or designer, I am going to attempt to construct in front of you a so- called apparatus of photo-fiction … [I]t is an exercise in the construction of a theoretical object, and is thus transparent, but which will function more like a black box.2 This paper is my latest attempt to bring Laruelle’s non-philosophy and queer theory into productive conversation with each other.3 I am going to attempt to construct in front of you a so-called apparatus of queer-fiction, a theoretical object which will not seek to render either queer theory or non-philosophy transparent, but rather to allow them to function more like black boxes. With that disclaimer in place, it must be said that the aim of the present article will be to demonstrate that Laruelle’s non-philosophy has much to offer to queer theory, feminist thought and gender studies. -
The Speculative Turn Continental Materialism and Realism
The Speculative Turn Continental Materialism and Realism Edited by Levi Bryant, Nick Srnicek and Graham Harman Open Access Statement – Please Read This book is Open Access. This work is not simply an electronic book; it is the open access version of a work that exists in a number of forms, the traditional printed form being one of them. Copyright Notice This work is ‘Open Access’, published under a creative commons license which means that you are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work as long as you clearly attribute the work to the authors, that you do not use this work for any commercial gain in any form and that you in no way alter, transform or build on the work outside of its use in normal aca- demic scholarship without express permission of the author and the publisher of this volume. Furthermore, for any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. For more information see the details of the creative commons licence at this website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ This means that you can: • read and store this document free of charge • distribute it for personal use free of charge • print sections of the work for personal use • read or perform parts of the work in a context where no financial transactions take place However, you cannot: • gain financially from the work in anyway • sell the work or seek monies in relation to the distribution of the work • use the work in any commercial activity of any kind • profit a third party indirectly via use or distribution -
Concepts and Objects
5 Concepts and Objects Ray Brassier 1. The question ‘What is real?’ stands at the crossroads of metaphysics and epistemol- ogy. More exactly, it marks the juncture of metaphysics and epistemology with the seal of conceptual representation. 2. Metaphysics understood as the investigation into what there is intersects with epistemology understood as the enquiry into how we know what there is. This intersec- tion of knowing and being is articulated through a theory of conception that explains how thought gains traction on being. 3. That the articulation of thought and being is necessarily conceptual follows from the Critical injunction which rules out any recourse to the doctrine of a pre-es- tablished harmony between reality and ideality. Thought is not guaranteed access to being; being is not inherently thinkable. There is no cognitive ingress to the real save through the concept. Yet the real itself is not to be confused with the concepts through which we know it. The fundamental problem of philosophy is to understand how to reconcile these two claims. 4. We gain access to the structure of reality via a machinery of conception which extracts intelligible indices from a world that is not designed to be intelligible and is not originarily infused with meaning. Meaning is a function of conception and con- ception involves representation—though this is not to say that conceptual representa- tion can be construed in terms of word-world mappings. It falls to conceptual ratio- nality to forge the explanatory bridge from thought to being. 5. Thus the metaphysical exploration of the structure of being can only be carried out in tandem with an epistemological investigation into the nature of conception.