The Irreducible Reality of the Object: Phenomenological and Speculative Theories of Equipmentality

Description

This intriguing and compact book investigates whether or not philosophy can have a use in the face of ‘capitalist realism’ today. Can philosophy study everyday objects like computers and mobile phones? Can it think of advertising, the population, electricity, buildings and even dreams as ‘objects’ in their own right, which convey particular and novel qualities when analysed? Johns’ book starts from an immanent phenomenological study of objects, arguing that such objects disclose larger systems of anthropological meaning and control. The author moves away from the Husserlian ‘essence’ of the object and embeds his objects in a series of ‘uses’ (or ‘equipment’ as Heidegger called it). However, Johns makes a speculative move by positing the very existence of such ‘uses’ distinct from the human and first person phenomenological consciousness. This is when the annals of phenomenology meet contemporary strands of realism such as Speculative and Object Oriented models. For Johns, the world is in a constant state of being utilised, not merely through humans but through objects and their relations, and not only on a macro scale but on a micro scale (described by the theories of quantum physics). The object then becomes a locus of use, yet, importantly, one that can never be reduced to relations alone. This is because the author believes that certain aspects of a relation withholds itself in its act of relating. The mutual dynamics of relation and property are thus rearticulated in a new light. This novel description of relation places Johns squarely between relational ontologies (such as Deleuze, Latour and Garcia) and non-relational ontologies (Harman). This work is invaluable to researchers and any reader of contemporary philosophy in the age of advanced technology and capitalism. Contents Introduction Materialism, Idealism, Semiotics, the Subconscious, the Object Materialism Idealism Semiotics The Subconscious The Object Tautology of the Object Sartre: Indeterminate Subjects and Determinate Objects Modes of the Tautological Object Object–Object Relations Object–Subject Relations Tautology Contra Phenomenology The Object-Oriented Mind/the Revenge of the Tautological Object Summary Six Dimensions of the Tautological Object Starting from Immanence The Temporality of Use The Spatiality of ‘Use’ Location/Proximity of Use: Use of an Object/Form of an Object Spatial Relationality of the Object Objects and Organisms Future-Identity of the Object Discontinuity of the Object History of Use The Historical Dimension of the Object The Memory of ‘Use’ The Speed of ‘Use’ The Future Dimension of Use The History of ‘Use’ and the Historical Dimension of the Object The New Reality of the Object: From Phenomenology to Realism The Fallacy of the Object Internal/Machinic Uses The Opening and Closing Process of the Tautology Phenomenology of the Object: Against Materialism, Physicalism and Idealism Use as Critique The Speculative Object Relation and Non-relation The Real Laruelle The Irreducibility of Use Vicarious Causation The Irreducible Relation as Both Non-becoming and Becoming A Rose is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose Relation Use Bilateral and Unilateral Difference Use as Concept and Classification Tautology: Essence, Agency and Determination From Mystical Dualism to Disenchanted Monism Properties and Relations The Snowman Hume: Contiguity, Resemblance and Cause/Effect Tautology The Shareability of Concepts What Is a Concept? Rene Descartes The Transmission of the Concept Concepts and Relations Private and Public Concepts Harry and Elliott Michael’s Journey to Work Secrets and Stereotypes Assimilation and Time The Anthropomorphisation of Time: The Object of Time The Dialectical Object of Time Crown of Thorns The Five Temporal Dimensions of the Object The Five Temporal Dimensions of the Subject How Time Is Assimilated in Experience Determinism: Reciprocal and Asymmetrical Modes Determination and Not Determinism Asymmetrical Determination Reciprocal Determination Memory Spaces Memory in Objects Supermarket Advertising The Destruction of Aura Different Memory Spaces Restaurant The Wicker Man, the Sudbrooke Millennium Stone and the Truman Show Nightclub: Who’s Memories Am I Having? The Bathroom References