Being in Flux
A Post-Anthropocentric Ontology of the Self
Rein Raud
- Reality
- exists
- independently
- of
- human
- observers,
- but
- does
- the
- same
- apply
- to
- its
- structure?
- Realist
- ontologies
- usually
- assume
- so:
- according
- to
- them,
- the
- world
- consists
- of
- objects,
- these
- have
- properties
- and
- enter
- into
- relations
- with
- each
- other,
- more
- or
- less
- as
- we
- are
- accustomed
- to
- think
- of
- them.Against
- this
- view,
- Rein
- Raud
- develops
- a
- radical
- process
- ontology
- that
- does
- not
- credit
- any
- vantage
- point,
- any
- scale
- or
- speed
- of
- being,
- any
- range
- of
- cognitive
- faculties
- with
- the
- privilege
- to
- judge
- how
- the
- world
- ‘really’
- is.
- In
- his
- view,
- what
- we
- think
- of
- as
- objects
- are
- recast
- as
- fields
- of
- constitutive
- tensions,
- cross-sections
- of
- processes,
- never
- in
- complete
- balance
- but
- always
- striving
- for
- it
- and
- always
- reconfiguring
- themselves
- accordingly.
- The
- human
- self
- is
- also
- understood
- as
- a
- fluctuating
- field,
- not
- limited
- to
- the
- mind
- but
- distributed
- all
- over
- the
- body
- and
- reaching
- out
- into
- its
- environment,
- with
- different
- constituents
- of
- the
- process
- constantly
- vying
- for
- control.The
- need
- for
- such
- a
- process
- philosophy
- has
- often
- been
- voiced,
- but
- rarely
- has
- there
- been
- an
- effort
- to
- develop
- it
- in
- a
- systematic
- and
- rigourous
- manner
- that
- leads
- to
- original
- accounts
- of
- identity,
- continuity,
- time,
- change,
- causality,
- agency
- and
- other
- topics.
- Throughout
- his
- new
- book,
- Raud
- engages
- with
- an
- unusually
- broad
- range
- of
- philosophical
- schools
- and
- debates,
- from
- New
- Materialism
- and
- Object-Oriented
- Ontology
- to
- both
- phenomenological
- and
- analytical
- philosophy
- of
- mind,
- from
- feminist
- philosophy
- of
- science
- to
- neurophilosophy
- and
- social
- ontology.Being
- in
- Flux
- will
- be
- of
- interest
- to
- students
- and
- scholars
- in
- philosophy
- and
- the
- humanities
- generally
- and
- to
- anyone
- interested
- in
- current
- debates
- about
- realism,
- materialism
- and ontology.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
