Last week Arran James proposed a reading group involving people interested in anarchism and speculative theory. I like the idea of asking activists and other politically inclined para-academics to spend some time checking worldviews against recent philosophical thought. We could stage such a reading/study group here at Synthetic_Zero.
The purpose of this study/research group would be to read a bunch of texts as a group and then discuss, discuss, discuss. These projects often require more attention than many of us can give so I propose we do away with the formalities and overarticulations and just dive in and get to the dialogue. For example, chapter summaries could be done by alternating members, but need only be BRIEF and to the point. Discussion and comprehension of insights is the goal.
Is there anyone out there who would be game for such a quick and dirty enterprise?
We propose the following potential reading list in order of expressed interest:
- The Three Ecologies (Felix Guattari)
- A Thousand Years on Nonlinear History (Manuel DeLanda)
- Nihil Unbound (Ray Brassier)
- On An Ungrounded Earth (Ben Woodard)
- The Ecological Thought (Timothy Morton)
- Bodily Nature (Stacey Alaimo)
- Vibrant Matter (Jane Bennett)
- The Universe of Things (Steven Shaviro)
- Onto-cartography (Levi Bryant)
- Political Affect (John Protevi)
- Levinas Unhinged (Tom Sparrow)
- Essays on Extinction (Clair Colebrook)
- Posthuman Life (David Roden)
Perhaps it might be more useful/creative to alternative between these theory-laden books and more praxis/tactical oriented works – as a move to promote maximum cross-fertilization and practical grounding? Suggestions of authors we might want to engage are most welcomed – and/or if these titles don’t interest you, or you know of more relevant/interesting texts, please do let us know.
This group would be open to EVERYONE and geared towards reading and dialogue, so the commitment would remain minimal..
Again, let us know.
synthetic zerØ 
Reblogged this on My Desiring-Machines and commented:
Would love participate in something like this right now, but I just can’t make the time…
Always have time for thinking. And, I am part of the set of Everyone, though probably out of my league.
There is no league Stephen. We would love to have your input. It’s an opportunity for group learning (not group-think) and with the acception of the wonderful miss Linda none of us are academics here. All para no meta 🙂
speaking of profs maybe larval-Levi would like to get on board?
would be up for this too, though starting with Brassier is a bit daunting!
I would suggest starting with Felix as he is a seminal figure in the background of S-Z and readily available so no access barriers to those online: http://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Guattari_Felix_The_Three_Ecologies.pdf
Right. Either tonight or tomorrow night I’m going to send out a group e-mail to those who have given one and do an update on here. I think the choice of Guattari as an opening text is a good call…I’ll include that suggestion in the mail.
Good. I have a copy.
“Discussion and comprehension of insights is the goal”.
I’d like to emphasise this. Like the ancients, synthetic-zero regards philosophy as something for living, for maximising our capacities for coping.
yep, only we are facing hyperobjects and multinationals instead of literal titans, but same tragic dimensions at work.
i’d be interested in this 😉
Hey, I’d love to participate in this study goup and agree that The Three Ecologies would be perfect to begin. I’ve had my eye on Bennett and Protevi for a while now too. Reading collectively and sharing is always much more illuminating than alone.
I’d also recommend putting out a call on partially examined life and possibly netting some of the not-school crowd. I could set something up at the Public School here in the Bay Area as well.
might be a possible PEL book group tie-in if someone is a member over there, do you have a link for the “not-school” crowd? we would certainly appreciate any tie-ins with the Public School folks, thanks brt
I don’t have the membership for not-school but I am considering it. I’ll see what I can do with BAPS soon.
cool, i think that folks spreading the word on twitter and all is probably our best bet, would be great if some local study-groups could popup from this.
I’m up for this, but may have to dip in and out due to other commitments. Agree about starting with Guattari. It’s short, pertinent, and most importantly I have an annotated copy.
I’m in! This is about half of my current must-read list anyway… Perhaps it is worth adding Latour’s Modes of Existence. Harman launched his realism with a book about Latour (Prince of Networks). It could be interesting to measure the parallels and the gaps between Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of assemblages and the new materialism deriving at least partially from Latour. And then see where the latest Deleuzo-Guattarians stand in that light.
The Brassier books looks great btw.
thanks BH,my own sense is that later Latour is a dead-end and would rather look into potentially useful alternatives maybe via ANT folks like Law&Mol: http://heterogeneities.net/ and or Tim Ingold (lots of his work collected here)
reminds me to try and track down the new Manning&Massumi
http://www.mollecular.org/ecologies_of_resistance/
Reblogged this on Deterritorial Investigations Unit and commented:
A follow-up to the previous post…
I agree that the Three Ecologies is an excellent spot to begin! I’ve been rereading Guattari’s “Schizonalaytic Cartographies” of late, which resonates sharply with the ecologies, providing densely provocative “meta-modelizations” that point towards non-anthopocentric modes of knowing and becoming. If anybody wants a pdf copy or some of my notes on the work (as a supplemental package, if you will, to the Three Ecologies), just let me know!
thanks edmund, we’ll work supplemental info in as we get going really any and all linkages are welcome, let the rhizome spread.
I broke into Cartographies and had to withdraw a bit, put it on hold for a while…Guattari’s style isn’t just densely provocative, it’s also dense with conceptual rhythms and semiological excavations, fillings-in, mutations.
we’ll have to see if after 3E people want to go deeper or to branch out some, either way good to have edmund’s work for those who are interested, thanks for getting this going with michael and all looks like we have some momentum building.
Count me in for Three Ecologies.
great, thanks Adam (http://knowledge-ecology.com/)
Looking forward to it.
I’m definitely onboard for Three Ecologies, and will stay tuned for further developments.
Sounds like a great chance to dig into these texts. Interested in hearing more.
I’m up for this.
Late to the discussion, but I’d love to sign on as well. Read 3E ages ago and keep meaning to give it a more thorough consideration; doing it in this fine company would be terrific. Cheers!
Here’s pdf links for some of the books. I figured there was no sense it making a post on them until the study group is finalized…
Guattari, “The Three Ecologies” http://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Guattari_Felix_The_Three_Ecologies.pdf
Brassier, “Nihil Unbound” https://rosswolfe.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/ray-brassier-nihil-unbound-enlightenment-and-extinction.pdf
Woodward, “On an Undgrounded Earth” http://punctumbooks.com/titles/ungrounded-earth/
Morton, “The Ecological Thought” http://bookfi.org/book/1041358
Alaimo, “Bodily Nature” http://bookfi.org/book/1088693
Bennett, “Vibrant Matter” http://film.ncu.edu.tw/word/Vibrant-Matter.pdf
Delanda “A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History” http://monoskop.org/images/b/b8/DeLanda_Manuel_A_Thousand_Years_of_Nonlinear_History_no_OCR.pdf
Colebrook, “Essays on Extinction, Vol. 1” http://openhumanitiespress.org/essays-on-extinction-vol1.html
thanks e.b., i think we should stick to such open-access sources/texts, maybe michael can start a library-page here
Hey everyone. Sorry I’m late. 🙂 I’m game to join if you forgive my drifting in and out due to other bits of my life that seem to have an unavoidable will of their own…
hey andre (our correspondent from India, blogs@ https://andreling.wordpress.com/), good to hear from you we would welcome any time you have to share with us.
I would only add Zizek’s Less Than Nothing, and Absolute Recoil to the list 🙂
I think you have already launched those, for folks interested (and I recommend a look) see:
http://darkecologies.com//?s=zizek&search=Go
Hello, this sounds great. How would it work? Will we discuss n comments like this, over email etc? How long would we spend reading each one?
welcome, we are working that all out but it looks like we will have a place here @ SynZ for the discussion of 3Ecologies and something like a chapter a week depending on how it goes.
Great! Looking forward to it.
Have we gotten a calendar and forum for this process? I’d love to get into the group.
I have the same question of Mark. The project is really exciting for me, I’d love to be part of it.
How is the group coming along? Started/not started/finished? I’d like to jump on wherever you’re at.
It’s going on now. Go to the main page/home on the site.
Great, thanks!