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Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category

heat & light

Posted in Blog stuff, Philosophy on August 19, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Not having followed the Derrida debates too closely (and doing it mostly from the comfort of my Google blog reader when I have), I’ve been missing the fascinating debates going on in the comments sections of Levi’s posts. Like this one on realism (72 comments) or this one on dialogue (93 comments). Larval Subjects deserves […]

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almost a real Paris

Posted in Philosophy, Process-relational thought, tagged , , on August 18, 2010 | 5 Comments »

I haven’t wanted to tread into the recent Speculative Realist debates over Derrida, in part because I haven’t had time for them (and my internet access has been a little unreliable), but in part also because I think they’re mostly reiterating themes that have already been well covered. OOO makes a valid and important point […]

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conversions

Posted in Philosophy, Process-relational thought, Spirit matter, tagged , on August 7, 2010 | 1 Comment »

What a lovely, touching post Tim Morton has written about his conversion to object-oriented ontology. Since my days of doing religious-studies fieldwork, I’ve always gotten ripples of that nameless mixture of joy, pleasure, and sad melancholy — that feeling of being existentially touched, even pierced — whenever I’ve been around people undergoing conversion experiences (whether […]

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Speculations #1 out

Posted in Philosophy on August 1, 2010 | 3 Comments »

The first issue of SPECULATIONS is out. Details, including downloading instructions, are available here. There’s a lot of good material in the issue, and it’s a very promising start. Congrats to Paul Ennis for pulling it together, and Thomas Gokey for the lovely design.

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writing…

Posted in Cinema, Media ecology, Philosophy, Process-relational thought, tagged , on July 6, 2010 | 7 Comments »

It’s been slow here because I am hard at work on the manuscript of Ecologies of the Moving Image, which I had hoped to finish this summer. The first three chapters are complete or close to it; the last three and final epilogue are in various stages of semi-completion. Until they are complete, blogging may […]

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SR, Whitehead, etc.

Posted in Philosophy, Process-relational thought, tagged , , , , on June 29, 2010 | 4 Comments »

I’m just catching up with this interesting exchange between Gary Williams (Minds and Brains), Graham Harman, and Tom Sparrow (Plastic Bodies). Williams takes issue with Harman’s and others’ portrayal of Speculative Realism as “revolutionary.” “The narrative of ‘finally’ moving beyond the ‘Kantian nightmare’”, he writes, “is tired and overplayed.” He argues that it’s not a […]

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actual occasions

Posted in Philosophy, Process-relational thought, tagged , on June 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Glancing through a recent issue of the journal Subjectivity, I noticed that their very first issue — an impressive debut that featured an all-star cast of relational thinkers including Isabelle Stengers, Annemarie Mol, and Nigel Thrift — is freely available online (to non-subscribers). The issue also included an article by Paul Stenner that provides an […]

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Vibrant Matter round-up & final thoughts

Posted in Philosophy, tagged , on June 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

There’ve been smatterings of commentary on the posts dedicated to specific chapters of Vibrant Matter, but not the kind of extended arguments I had originally anticipated (before reading the book). So I’m guessing we may be wrapping up this cross-blog reading group (though Scu may still post on chapter 8). To the list of entries, […]

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Bennett’s conatus

Posted in Philosophy, Process-relational thought, tagged , , , on June 25, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Just as I was getting ready to wind up the Bennett discussions yesterday, Scu posted a substantial piece about chapter 7, and promised more to come on chapter 8. I’m glad to see it, since I thought there could have been more discussion about both (and about some general issues throughout the book). Picking up […]

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signatures

Posted in Philosophy, tagged , , on June 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

In Chapter Eight of Vibrant Matter, Jane Bennett asks: “Are there more everyday tactics for cultivating an ability to discern the vitality of matter?” and, in response, mentions allowing oneself to anthropomorphize, to relax into resemblances discerned across ontological divides: you (mis)take the wind outside at night for your father’s wheezy breathing in the next […]

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partitions of the sensible

Posted in Philosophy, tagged on June 20, 2010 | 6 Comments »

The following began as a summary of the final chapter of Vibrant Matter, but it somehow mutated into something more like a position statement (which I hope doesn’t sound like too much of a rant). But I’ll let it go as it is, running the risk of speaking too loudly to no one in particular, […]

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relationalism, earth jazz, & the solstice

Posted in Music & soundscape, Philosophy, Spirit matter, tagged , , , , , , , on June 20, 2010 | 9 Comments »

If there’s a musical demonstration of relationalism, and by extension (as Skholiast points out) of ecology, it’s the kind of improvised music that the Dead are supposed to have excelled at (and occasionally did). The universe gives rise to many wondrous entities in its long history of spontaneity, relational responsiveness, habit-formation, and form-building. The habits start as rhythms, melodic chirps that turn into territorial refrains and calls, and that gradually maneuvre their way into verse patterns, melodies, harmonies, polyrhythms. Distinct songs develop for particular purposes and gradually get freed from those purposes, taken up into improvisational routines and performances, some of which crystallize into larger-scale architectonics, but only ever temporarily.

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