On April 27, 2007, the first Speculative Realism (SR) workshop was held
at Goldsmiths, University of London, featuring four young philosophers
whose ideas were loosely allied. Over the ensuing decade, the ideas of
SR spread from philosophy to the arts, architecture, and numerous
disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. SR has been arguably
the most influential new current in continental philosophy since the
works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari found their second wind in
the 1990s.
But what is SR? This book is the first general overview by one of its
original members, focusing on the aesthetic, ethical, ontological, and
political themes of greatest importance to the movement. Graham Harman
provides a balanced but critical assessment of his original SR
colleagues - Ray Brassier, Iain Hamilton Grant, and Quentin
Meillassoux - along with a clear summary of his own Object-Oriented
Ontology (OOO). A number of central philosophical questions tie the four
chapters together: What exactly is "correlationism," the chief enemy of
SR? What are the stakes of philosophical realism, and is such realism
better served by mathematics and the natural sciences, or by a broader
model of cognitive activity that includes aesthetics?
This book covers both the historical and conceptual development of the
movement, providing a first-rate introduction for students, aided by
helpful end-of-chapter study questions chosen by Harman himself. SR,
Harman shows, is a vital and fast-developing field in contemporary
philosophy.
