Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0257 - Metaphysics & the New Realism

For nearly a half century, the prevailing orthodoxy in philosophy, cultural theory, and social theory has been that our access to reality is mediated by our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, and systems of belief - or, even more strongly, that "the real" or "nature" is a social construction. Yet, over the past decade, a number of emerging philosophers have challenged this anti-realist orthodoxy and have offered powerful arguments on behalf of realism, the view that reality is fully independent of human access to it. This course will begin by surveying the anti-realist orthodoxy and will then go on to examine a variety of realist positions: the speculative materialism of Quentin Meillassoux, the object-oriented philosophy of Graham Harman, the intensive realism of Gilles Deleuze and Manuel DeLanda, and the transcendental nihilism of Ray Brassier. Previous work in philosophy, cultural theory, and/or social-political theory will be very helpful.

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