ALIEN THEORY The Decline of Materialism in the Name of Matter Ray Brassier Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy University of Warwick, Department of Philosophy April ? 001 2 CONTENTS SYNOPSIS ............................................................................................................ S INTRODUCTION- MATERIALISM, SCIENCE, PHENOMENOLOGY 6 ............................. PHILOSOPHY AND NON-PHILOSOPHY 6 ......................................................................................... WHY MATERIALISM? 15 .............................................................................................................. 1. The empirical contingency of materialism's 16 philosophical necessity .................................... 2. The transcendental necessity of materialism's transformation 37 non philosophical ................ MAN AS NON-MATERIALIST IDENTITY OF PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE 46 .................................... DECLI PART I: THE :T OF MATE IALISM AS SUCH 49 ..................... CHAPTER 1- MATTER: COMME TELLE OR TELLE QUELLE? 50 ................................... MATERIALISM AND MATERIOLOGY 59 ......................................................................................... CHAPTER 2- MICHEL HENRY: MATERIAL PHENOMENOLOGY 63 .............................. EN-STASIS/EK-STASIS 63 .............................................................................................................. HENRY AND HUSSERL 66 .............................................................................................................. THE UR-IMPRESSION AS COINCIDENCE OF PHENOMENON AND PHENOMENALITY 71 ................... `THE HISTORIALITY OF THE ABSOLUTE': ETERNAL SUBJECTIVE LIFE 73 ..................................... IMMANENCE/TRANSCENDENCE: Two VERSIONS OF THE UNOBJECTIFIABLE 78 ........................... THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL IDEALISATION OF IMMANENCE 80 ...................................................... THE RELATIVE ABSOLUTE 85 ....................................................................................................... THINKABLE/UNTHINKABLE 87 ..................................................................................................... IMMANENCE `ITSELF' OR IMMANENCE `AS SUCH'? 90 .................................................................. CHAPTER 3- DELEUZE & GUATTARI: ABSOLUTE HYLETICS 100 ............................... MATERIALIZING THE TRANSCENDENTAL 100 ............................................................................... THE DELEUZEAN CRITIQUE OF REPRESENTATION 102 ................................................................. MACHINIC CONSTRUCTIVISM 108 ................................................................................................ THE HYLETIC CONTINUUM 113 .................................................................................................... THE PLANE OF IMMANENCE 116 .................................................................................................. PARALLELISM AND ASYMMETRY 124 .......................................................................................... 3 NOMADIC DISTRIBUTION 142 ....................................................................................................... HYLETIC IDEALISM 154 ................................................................................................................ TRANSCENDENTAL MATERIALISM VERSUS EMPIRICAL REALISM 161 ......................................... CHAPTER 4- FROM MATERIALISM `AS SUCH' TO MATTER `ITSELF' 183 ................... `MATERIALISM'/ `IDEALISM' 184 ................................................................................................. THE MATERIOLOGICAL AMPHIBOLY OF UTTERANCE AND STATEMENT 194 ................................ THE DECLINE OF MATERIALISM 199 ............................................................................................ PHILOSOPHICAL SUMMARY AND TRANSITION TO NON-PHILOSOPHY 206 .................................... PART II: THE NAME OF MATTER ITSELF 211 ....................................... CHAPTER 5- LARUELLE'S RAZOR 212 ..................................................................... `NON-' 213 ................................................................................................................................... THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL DECISION 218 .............................................................. DECISION AS TRANSCENDENTAL METHOD 230 ............................................................................ THE NON-DECISIONAL CLONING OF DECISION 245 ...................................................................... SUSPENDING THE PARMENIDEAN AXIOM 259 ............................................................................... CHAPTER 6- THE RADICAL HYLE AS FIRST NAME OF MATTER .......................... 264 THE RADICAL HYLE AS NON-CONCEPTUAL SYMBOL FOR THE IDENTITY OF UTTERANCE.... 267 . THE ALIEN-SUBJECT 277 ............................................................................................................ THE NON-MATERIALIST AXIOMATIC 289 .................................................................................... NON-INTUITIVE PHENOMENALITY 296 ........................................................................................ 1. Theory 296 and experience ...................................................................................................... 2. The Decision 301 six-dimensions of ......................................................................................... 3. The 305 transcendental prosthetic ........................................................................................... 4. The 308 non-thetic universe ..................................................................................................... 5. Non-materialism 312 and gnosis ............................................................................................... 7- BEHOLD THE NON-RABBIT 320 CHAPTER ............................................................ KANT 324 ..................................................................................................................................... QUfNE 334 .................................................................................................................................... LARUELLE 349 ............................................................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER 8- PHENOMENOLOGICAL PLASTICITY AND EPISTEMIC CHAOS 374 .......... ELIMINATIVISM AND FOLK PSYCHOLOGY 376 .............................................................................. NEUROCOMPUTATIONAL PLASTICITY 383 .................................................................................... VECTOR CODING: FROM SUPEREMPIRICAL VIRTUE TO TRANSCENDENTAL A PRIORI 390 .......... EPISTEMIC ENGINES AND THE TRANSCENDENTAL FUNCTION 405 ................................................ 1. The natural science of epistemic 40; engines ........................................................................... 2. From epistemic algorithms to the transcendental function 415 ................................................ CONCLUSION- PHILOSOPHY, CAPITALISM, NON-MATERIALISM 422 ........................ PHILOSOPHY IS THE WORLD 422 .................................................................................................. THE WORLD IS CAPI'I'ALISM 427 .................................................................................................. GNOSTIC SCEPTICISM VERSUS EPISTEMIC REALISM 430 .............................................................. CAPITALISM, INFORMATION AND UNIVERSAL NOISE 435 ............................................................ 441 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................... WORKS BY LARUELLE 441 ........................................................................................................... Philosophie 1: 441 ......................................................................................................................... Philosophie II: 441 ........................................................................................................................ Philosophie III: 442 ...................................................................................................................... ARTICLES AND ESSAYS BY LARUELLE 443 ................................................................................... SECONDARY LITTERATURE ON LARUELLE 451 ............................................................................ 451 a) articles: .............................................................................................................................. SECONDARY LITTERATURE ON LARUELLE 461 ............................................................................ b) works :................................................................................................................................. 461 WORKS BY OTHER AUTHORS 462 ................................................................................................ 5 SYNOPSIS The thesis tries to define and explain the rudiments of a `non- `non-decisional' philosophical' or theory of materialism on the basis of a theoretical framework provided by the `non-philosophy' of Francois Laruelle. Neither anti-philosophical nor anti-materialist in character, non-