Object Oriented Phiasco (post from The Trott Line blog)

Another view on "the Wolfendale kerfuffle," a.k.a. the Speculative Realism "meltdown" (head nod Nick Land on that coinage).  I am in the camp that Gratton and Shaviro just plain have it wrong, and am publishing at least one review saying so.  There are just too many holes in the relevant literature cited in their books (or better, what is not cited in their books); missing way too much about the real movers and shakers.

Land's coinage of "meltdown" is no joke.

Oh, I smile when I see renditions of the new band so-called (there is a .gif going around that I'll have to dig up) rational materialists (or something like that) or neo-rationalists (I'm a fan of Whitehead, Hegel, etc. etc. so I can get away with that, maybe I'd play drums or something) of Wolfendale, Brassier, Niemoczynski, and Blake.  Pretty funny...if I can dig it up again.

Link to Adriel's post HERE.

Herbart's Philosophy of Nature (precursor to Bergson, contemporary of Schelling and Hegel)

Just an excellent summary HERE over at Scottish Hegelian blogspot.  Very worth the read, see the summary below.  For me what was interesting in the summary is discussion of the continuum - which welds together mathematics and metaphysics pace Deleuze, Peirce, and Bergson.  Also the sections on "matter" and "realism" are worth the read - and the animated.gif about the 20th century being a "winter" for the philosophy of nature was nice.

This post summarizes Herbart's philosophy of nature. Herbart shared the project of a philosophical understanding of nature distinct though complementary in its aims and method from natural science with his contemporaries Schelling and Hegel. This is not now a common project. We draw for our account on Marcel Mauxion's La Métaphysique de Herbart (1894). The above image is of the Herbartdenkmal in Oldenburg around 1900.

Pragmatism and the New Metaphysics (seminar/course by Colin Koopman)

It's worth reading this interesting syllabus.

http://pages.uoregon.edu/koopman/courses_syllabi/syll_grad_prag-metaP-FINAL.pdf

Iain Hamilton Grant on Naturphilosophie at MUN June 2014 (audiointerview Mp3)

Ht dmf. That's Sean McGrath with the introduction. (McGrath is great: read his Schelling on the unconscious book and loved it!). I always thought MUN would be a perfect fit for me, they have that perfect historical yet contemporary blend of Continental philosophy that my own training is steeped in. Sadly the Peirce scholar there (James Bradley) has passed on although metaphysics is still going strong. I'd love to teach there based just on what I see so far, if only to round out Continental metaphysics with a hybrid Euro-American approach: not only Peirce but Hegel, Deleuze, Dewey, Whitehead, and other important titans.

http://www.mun.ca/philosophy/jockeyclub/jockeyclubpapers.php

more Nick Land on the meltdown of SR + Wolfendale's response to Cogburn

"Meltdown" certainly better describes what's happening rather than "dust up" or "kerfuffle" (although head nod to Brian Burt for coining "the Wolfendale Kerfuffle").  It's certainly an end of an era and a rather concretely stated transition that (perhaps) occurred back in 2007, as in "stillborn," or only recently "died" in meltdown with a Postcript which re-states emphatically the view expressed by all of Wolfendale, Brassier, Niemoczynski, and Blake.

Either way, things are very, very different now and the future once again is open.  Perhaps another axis has formed...who knows.

First, Nick Land:

Urban Future is merely scavenging irresponsibly around the edges of the Speculative Realism meltdown, attracted by turbulence, and connected tenuously to some of the figures involved. The greatest advantage of such detachment is that it allows for a free framing of the issues at stake, and these are becoming truly fascinating. The battle over the New Ontology (aka ‘Speculative Realism’) is spiraling into the question: does it — itself — actually exist?

Second, Pete Wolfendale's post HERE, below we have in excerpt a response to Jon Cogburn's post on "Circular Firing Squads" (HERE).

I urge everyone to read for themselves Pete Wolfendale's lengthy post and Jon Cogburn's (as well as the comments in Jon's).  It's definitely worth a look if you are looking to get your finger on the pulse. 

An excerpt from Pete's post linked above:

There’s a lot I could say in response to Jon’s claim that SR obviously exists, and that to say otherwise is either trivially false, or worse, contradicts my claims about the collapse of the SR blogging community. There’s no doubt that there are people who self-describe as speculative realists, and that there are CFPs, conferences, and art exhibitions where it gets referenced liberally. However, if all SR means is a renewed concern with metaphysics in the Continental tradition, then there’s no clear reason why it doesn’t include people like Deleuze, Badiou, Zizek, Stengers, and the like. If nothing else, this is amply demonstrated by the extent to which these figures (and people influenced by them) form the most natural interlocutors of those who count themselves as speculative realists. What is it about the work of Meillassoux and Grant that warrants them being categorised separately from these other figures, as somehow more appropriately listed beside Harman than any of the others, other than the fact that they attended a workshop together in 2007? There are others who have come to the SR label later, such as those interested in Whitehead, Latour, and various strands of so called New Materialism, who genuinely have more in common with OOP/OOO than these figures, but if SR is taken to index these commonalities, then it has by far more to do with OOP than any of the other work it was originally supposed to index (hence the inevitable slippage to ‘SR/OOO’).

The claim that SR doesn’t exist is simply the claim that there isn’t any distinctive philosophical common ground indexed by the intersection of Meillassoux/Harman/Grant/Brassier. However, this is entirely compatible with the claim that at one point it looked like there might be, and that this promised a potentially new philosophical trajectory that would be genuinely distinct from extant trends. The sense in which SR can be said to have ‘died’ is simply the sense in which this promise proved to be false. This sort of thing happens. It’s precisely what Badiou tries to capture in his account of fidelity, wherein one simply has to commit oneself to the existence of an Event despite its occurrence being indiscernible. Sometimes the fidelity pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t.

 

Book launch event for Wolfendale's new book

HT Urbanomic. Looks interesting so consider attending if you're in the area.

Nick Land on Speculative Realism

HERE.  He mentions bleak theology, which is cool.  

"Speculative Realism blows up. (It’s a lot of fun, whatever emerges from the rubble.) More. Vaguely related (but ultimately far more interesting): Bleak Theology."

Reminder: P.E.S.T. "Speculative Autopsy" - Oct. 31st, Philadelphia

For those local in the Philadelphia area...

P.E.S.T. presents,

Speculative Autopsy

Following upon last year's highly successful "Speculative Misanthropy" workshop, P.E.S.T. returns once again to discuss 21st-century philosophy in the P.E.S.T. organization's own unique and daring style: underground, off radar, and free from constraint.  The best and brightest of young philosophers doing contemporary metaphysics in the States will discuss their views on a variety of topics within contemporary metaphysical philosophy.  

This year's workshop is a four hour evening event; hosted locally in Philadelphia, October 31st!  Yes, that's music, philosophy, and Halloween!

Topics up for discussion include: the philosophy of Ray Brassier, Nick Land, and Francois Laruelle; Pete Wolfendale's latest book on OOP through Urbanomic; #Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader; Ontological Suprematism; Dark Vitalism; Dark Fiction and Non-Philosophy/Non-Theology; Speculative and Ecstatic Naturalism; Bleak Theology; and Science Fiction and Philosophy.  Plus you can expect a few surprise guests and live music for all!

If you're in the area come join the fun.  Dancefloor, electronics, dark philosophy.  That's afternatureblog@gmail.com for more info.  (Limited seating available.)

#No_light  #No_social  #No_charlatans

A fist in the face of cronyism since 2013... This isn't a "skirmish," this is war ...

Towards an Ecological Metaphysics

Matt from Footnotes to Plato blog HERE contributes to the conversation between Adam Robbert (from Knowledge Ecology blog) and me on the ecologization of philosophy.  Matt's post makes some interesting points and also references John Cobb on Whitehead with a nice video clip.

Cherry Valley

Now a nature preserve, I often come to walk here because it is so peaceful. The fall colors will be at their peak this coming week. Autumn is my favorite season in Pennsylvania.

Cogburn weighs in

On the SR is dead question. HERE.

I'll mostly plead the fifth, but I can state that I do read Cogburn's blog but also think that Wolfendale's book has got alot right.  I certainly think that there is more truth in Pete's book than what you'll find in Shaviro's or Gratton's books (I am reviewing the copy of Shaviro's book that UMP sent to me in addition to Pete's book).

We need more honesty in all of this and that's what Pete's book provides.  I think Jon wrote his post with sincerity as well, even though I am not sure I agree with him on this particular issue.  But I guess some disagreements can be productive, and so far alot of folks have been nudged to read Pete's book.  So good for him.  

Pete (Wolfendale) and Ray Brassier are two philosophers that I certainly respect and enjoy reading.  I think that they are right about things when it does come to the whole notion of a former "speculative realism" versus Speculative ®ealism™.  The original spirit has been snuffed out, and all that we're left with is cronyism and a trademarked brand.  But let me repeat, Cogburn is honest and doesn't pull punches.  So I can respect that as well.

I've weighed in before, HERE with a post simply called "Speculative ®ealism™" and HERE with a response to Robert Jackson.