9 responses to “Ecological Metaphysics”

1. check out the book by Anthony Paul Smith — A Non-Philosophical Theory of Nature: Ecologies of Thought. He’s translated many of Laruelle’s books into English. Here’s the Amazon blurb: In A Non-Philosophical Theory of Nature Anthony Paul Smith asserts that the old theological and philosophical ideas about the unnatural are no longer tenable. Parts of nature seem to be at war with one another – the human against the rest of the biosphere – and this is because our very understanding of the idea of nature that comes to us from philosophy and theology has perpetuated that war. Smith argues that the very idea of nature must be rethought as ecological, and towards that purpose uses the methodology of François Laruelle’s non-philosophy to bring together the fields of philosophy, theology, and scientific ecology and treat them as ecological material. Out of this ecology of thought, a new theory of nature emerges for an ecological age.

   • thanks for the suggestion will check into it but if this “this is because our very understanding of the idea of nature that comes to us from philosophy and theology has perpetuated that war” is an accurate description it would be exactly the kind of mistaken theo-logical hangover I’m working against as I don’t think we do (or even can) share such things as Ideas (how would we come to do so?) and are not critters of a cognitive-behavioral psychology.

2. AP sent me a draft of that book a while back but I have not yet read it. I like the notion of treating disciplines and the speech/info acts they generate as ecological material though. Laruelle offers ways of considering I find innovative and useful so hopefully AP distills all that into something that works with ecological science…

   I’d be interested to know what Hart makes of it.

   • me too, I only know of his work via:
     http://terenceblake.wordpress.com/?s=laruelle

   • i presume AP is Anthony Paul Smith? if so, then I can’t offer an informed sense of his work. I’ve got his book here and have yet to read it — though I posted it to dmf feeling it might add to the thought-mix. Next week I start my full immersion in Laruelle (which includes APS’s book). Must have at least 8 Laruelle-themed books in a stack here. Give me around 6 weeks to orient and metabolize, then i can weigh in on Laruelle and APS’s benefits to ‘ecological’ thinking. thx

     • cool thanks

     • ya I meant APS.

3. oh, btw: the main reason i decided to dive into the deep of Laruelle’s sea had to do with the three (yes, three) introductions to his book Struggle and Utopia at the End Times of Philosophy. You know that feeling you get in your spine when something extraordinarily original is trying to be thought? In general I like Terrance Blake but his posts on Laruelle weren’t psychoactive enough to convince me Laruelle was worth it. It was those three intros…

   • Hart,

     There is much I like about Laruelle’s work – especially the self-destructing nature of his logic opening to a radical portrayal of immanence. I invite you to dive deep then report back on your adventure in comments or a guest post here or whatever. I’d love to have a conversation about what you find.