Speculative realism
Speculative realism is a movement in
Speculative realism takes its name from a conference held at
A second conference, entitled "Speculative Realism/Speculative Materialism", took place at the
A third conference, entitled "Object Oriented Ontology: A Symposium", was held at Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Literature, Communication and Culture (now the School of Literature, Media, and Communication) on April 23, 2010.[6] This symposium was hosted by Ian Bogost and included Levi Bryant, Graham Harmon, Steven Shaviro, Hugh Crawford, Carl DiSalvo, John Johnston, Barbara Maria Stafford, and Eugene Thacker.
Critique of correlationism
While often in disagreement over basic philosophical issues, the speculative realist thinkers have a shared resistance to what they interpret as philosophies of human finitude inspired by the tradition of Immanuel Kant.
What unites the four core members of the movement is an attempt to overcome both "
All four of the core thinkers within speculative realism work to overturn these forms of philosophy which privilege the human being, favouring distinct forms of realism against the dominant forms of idealism in much of contemporary Continental philosophy.
Variations
While sharing in the goal of overturning the dominant strands of post-Kantian thought in Continental philosophy, there are important differences separating the core members of the speculative realist movement and their followers.
Speculative materialism
In his critique of correlationism,
Meillassoux follows the opposite tactic in rejecting the principle of correlation for the sake of a bolstered principle of factiality in his post-Kantian return to Hume. By arguing in favour of such a principle, Meillassoux is led to reject the necessity not only of all physical laws of nature, but all logical laws except the
The primary foundation from which Meillassoux extends the rest of his theory by arguing for a principle: the necessity of contingency itself. That is, the only thing objectively necessary is that no thing/object is necessary to every subject. Thus, all things are contingent. Using this as an objective position, he proceeds to redevelop a metaphysics for science and technology which recovers what he calls ancestral events: materially real events which occur outside of phenomenological subjectivity. He claims that without the objectivity of contingency, a philosopher of metaphysics should reject that such events like the Big Bang are legitimate. Although, some have argued that the problem is not that these ancestral events are outside of human notions of time, since many such examples of these events in fact do have materially sensible data which places them in terms of human interpretations of time, but rather it applies more strongly to real things which are not empirically observable:[11] e.g. quarks or genetic information. While not committed entirely to speculative materialism, Yuk Hui references and uses an analogous line of reasoning in Recursivity and Contingency[12] in his development of cosmotechnics, and actively works within similar philosophical lineages.
Object-oriented ontology
The central tenet of Graham Harman and Levi Bryant's object-oriented ontology (OOO) is that objects have been neglected in philosophy in favor of a "radical philosophy" that tries to "undermine" objects by saying that objects are the crusts to a deeper underlying reality, either in the form of monism or a perpetual flux, or those that try to "overmine" objects by saying that the idea of a whole object is a form of folk ontology. According to Harman, everything is an object, whether it be a mailbox, electromagnetic radiation, curved spacetime, the Commonwealth of Nations, or a propositional attitude; all things, whether physical or fictional, are equally objects. Sympathetic to panpsychism, Harman proposes a new philosophical discipline called "speculative psychology" dedicated to investigating the "cosmic layers of psyche" and "ferreting out the specific psychic reality of earthworms, dust, armies, chalk, and stone".[13]
Harman defends a version of the Aristotelian notion of
Transcendental materialism
Iain Hamilton Grant defends a position he calls transcendental materialism.[15] He argues against what he terms "somatism", the philosophy and physics of bodies. In his Philosophies of Nature After Schelling, Grant tells a new history of philosophy from Plato onward based on the definition of matter. Aristotle distinguished between Form and Matter in such a way that Matter was invisible to philosophy, whereas Grant argues for a return to the Platonic Matter as not only the basic building blocks of reality, but the forces and powers that govern our reality. He traces this same argument to the post-Kantian German idealists Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, claiming that the distinction between Matter as substantive versus useful fiction persists to this day and that we should end our attempts to overturn Plato and instead attempt to overturn Kant and return to "speculative physics" in the Platonic tradition, that is, not a physics of bodies, but a "physics of the All".[16]
Other thinkers have emerged within this group, united in their allegiance to what has been known as "process philosophy", rallying around such thinkers as
Transcendental nihilism
In Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction, Ray Brassier defends what Michael Austin, Paul Ennis, Fabio Gironi term as transcendental nihilism.[20] He maintains that philosophy has avoided the traumatic idea of extinction, instead attempting to find meaning in a world conditioned by the very idea of its own annihilation. Thus Brassier critiques both the phenomenological and hermeneutic strands of continental philosophy as well as the vitality of thinkers like Gilles Deleuze, who work to ingrain meaning in the world and stave off the "threat" of nihilism. Instead, drawing on thinkers such as Alain Badiou, François Laruelle, Paul Churchland and Thomas Metzinger, Brassier defends a view of the world as inherently devoid of meaning. That is, rather than avoiding nihilism, Brassier embraces it as the truth of reality. Brassier concludes from his readings of Badiou and Laruelle that the universe is founded on the nothing,[21] but also that philosophy is the "organon of extinction," that it is only because life is conditioned by its own extinction that there is thought at all.[22] Brassier then defends a radically anti-correlationist philosophy proposing that Thought is conjoined not with Being, but with Non-Being.
Controversy about a "philosophical movement"
In an interview with Kronos magazine published in March 2011, Ray Brassier denied that there is any such thing as a "speculative realist movement" and firmly distanced himself from those who continue to attach themselves to the brand name:[23]
The "speculative realist movement" exists only in the imaginations of a group of bloggers promoting an agenda for which I have no sympathy whatsoever:
actor-network theory spiced with pan-psychist metaphysics and morsels of process philosophy. I don't believe the internet is an appropriate medium for serious philosophical debate; nor do I believe it is acceptable to try to concoct a philosophical movement online by using blogs to exploit the misguided enthusiasm of impressionable graduate students. I agree with Deleuze's remark that ultimately the most basic task of philosophy is to impede stupidity, so I see little philosophical merit in a "movement" whose most signal achievement thus far is to have generated an online orgy of stupidity.also enables forms of phenomenology as she exemplifies through several chapters. In doing so, these authors suggest some form of phenomenology in speculative realism despite the rejection of correlationist philosophy.Further Brassier suggests that a philosophical movement cannot believably be bound to merely anti-correlationism.[24] Despite this, many of those who discuss different approaches to escape Meillassoux's correlationist cycle, suggesting active philosophical discourse on a particular topic. Ian Bogost's work, Alien Phenomenology,[25] rethinks what OOO phenomenology would be while others argue OOO rejects phenomenology outright. Similarly, Steven Shaviro actively endorses panpsychism[26] and reaffirms his earlier endorsement of process philosophy,[27] rejecting certain aspects of Harmon's work and Brassier's criticisms about the existence of a movement. Additionally Jane Bennett's Vibrant Matter[19]
As such, one of the fundamental controversies within Speculative Realism is less agreement or disagreement about correlationism as a problem, but instead is a discussion of the feasibility or need of philosophies of phenomenology and cognition after being separated from philosophies of ontology. On this debate Harmon and Meillassoux suggest there is no need for phenomenology while Shaviro, Bennett, and Bogost suggest a separation of anti-correlation of ontology and phenomenology does not render either to be empty philosophical topics.
Another controversy is how important Alfred North Whitehead's process philosophy and speculative philosophy[28] are to anti-correlationism. While Meillassoux associates anti-correlationism to "speculative materialism," he does not cite Whitehead in association in the development of After Finitude.[29] Additionally Brassier's statements above suggest he rejects the association. However, between Shaviro, Strengers, and many others, the association of Whitehead is largely consistent with anti-correlationism and thus remains a valuable inspiration.
Publications
Speculative realism has close ties to the journal Collapse, which published the proceedings of the inaugural conference at Goldsmiths and has featured numerous other articles by 'Speculative Realist' thinkers; as has the academic journal Pli, which is edited and produced by members of the Graduate School of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. The journal Speculations, founded in 2010 published by Punctum Books, regularly features articles related to Speculative Realism. Edinburgh University Press publishes a book series called Speculative Realism.
In 2013, Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies journal published a special issue on the topic in relation to anarchism.[30]
Between 2019 and 2021, the De Gruyter Open Access journal, Open Philosophy, published three special issues on object-oriented ontology and its critics.[31]
Internet presence
Speculative realism is notable for its fast expansion via the
blogs.[32]Websites have formed as resources for essays, lectures, and planned future books by those within the speculative realist movement. Many other blogs, as well as podcasts, have emerged with original material on speculative realism or expanding on its themes and ideas.See also
Kantian empiricism New realism (contemporary philosophy)- Accelerationism
- Object-oriented ontology
- Objectivity
- Postanalytic philosophy
Speculative idealism- Transhumanism
Transcendental empiricism Transcendental nominalismNotable speculative realists
- Ian Bogost
- Ray Brassier
- Levi Bryant
- Manuel DeLanda
- Tristan Garcia
- Iain Hamilton Grant
- Graham Harman
- Adrian Johnston
- Katerina Kolozova
- Nick Land
- Quentin Meillassoux
- Reza Negarestani
- Steven Shaviro
- Nick Srnicek
- Isabelle Stengers
- Eugene Thacker
See also
Notes
- ^ Paul John Ennis, Post-continental Voices: Selected Interviews, John Hunt Publishing, 2010, p. 18.
- ^ Mackay, Robin (March 2007). "Editorial Introduction". Collapse. 2 (1): 3–13.
- ^ "Past Issues". crln.acrl.org.
- ^ a b c Graham Harman, "brief SR/OOO tutorial."
- ^ a b "Speculative Realism | Frieze". 12 May 2009.
hdl:1853/70942.- ^ Mackay, Robin (March 2007). "Editorial Introduction". Collapse. 2 (1): 3–13.
- ^ Quentin Meillassoux (2008), After Finitude, p. 5.
- ^ Journals, Ruth at EUP (December 12, 2014). "Correlationism – An Extract from The Meillassoux Dictionary". Edinburgh University Press Blog.
- ^ Quentin Meillassoux (2008), After Finitude, p. 90.
ISSN 0966-8373. ISBN 978-1-78660-052-3.- ^ Graham Harman (2009), Prince of Networks, p. 213.
- ^ Graham Harman, "On Vicarious Causality," in Collapse II (1997), p. 201.
ISBN 978-0-9806683-4-6. ISBN 978-0-9806683-4-6.- ^ a b Eugene Thacker (2010), After Life, p. x.
- ^ Eugene Thacker (2010), After Life, p. 254.
- ^
ISBN 978-0-8223-4619-7.- ^ Michael Austin, Paul Ennis, Fabio Gironi (2012), Speculations III, Punctum Books, p. 257.
- ^ Ray Brassier (2007), Nihil Unbound, pp. 148–149.
- ^ Ray Brassier (2007), Nihil Unbound, pp. 223–226, pp. 234–238.
- ^ Ray Brassier interviewed by Marcin Rychter "I am a nihilist because I still believe in truth", Kronos, March 4, 2011.
ISBN 978-0-9575295-9-5. S2CID 250398654, retrieved 2024-02-08 ISBN 978-0-8166-8924-8. ISBN 978-0-262-25516-5. ISBN 978-0-02-934570-2. ISBN 978-1-350-25205-9.- ^ "No. 2 (2013): Ontological Anarché: Beyond Materialism and Idealism | Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies".
- ^ "Open Philosophy Volume 2 Issue 1". De Gruyter. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
- ^ Fabio Gironi, "Science-Laden Theory" in Speculations 1 (2010), p. 21.
Note Thanapong Jantanam
References
- Graham Harman, Speculative Realism: An Introduction, John Wiley & Sons, 2018.
External links
- Speculative Realism: An Epitome – a concise introduction to Speculative Realism.
- Post-Continental Voices – an edited collection of interviews that contains interviews with speculative realists.
- Collapse – a journal featuring contributions by "speculative realists"
- Quentin Meillassoux in English at the Speculative Realism Conference Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine – recording of Quentin Meillassoux's lecture in English at the inaugural Speculative Realism conference
- Pierre-Alexandre Fradet and Tristan Garcia (eds.), issue "Réalisme spéculatif", in Spirale, No. 255, winter 2016 – introduction here
- The Speculative Realism Pathfinder