I’m very much looking forward to Thomas Nail‘s new book Being and Motion (out from Oxford this winter) outlining an ontography and philosophical history of movement. Nothing could be more interesting and salient as humans continue along the multi-paths of unpredictable global systems change and coming mass migrations.
Here is a description of the new book:
More than at any other time in human history, we live in an age defined by movement and mobility; and yet, we lack a unifying theory which takes this seriously as a starting point for philosophy. The history of philosophy has systematically explained movement as derived from something else that does not move: space, eternity, force, and time. Why, when movement has always been central to human societies, did a philosophy based on movement never take hold? This book finally overturns this long-standing metaphysical tradition by placing movement at the heart of philosophy.
In doing so, Being and Motion provides a completely new understanding of the most fundamental categories of ontology from a movement-oriented perspective: quality, quantity, relation, modality, and others. It also provides the first history of the philosophy of motion, from early prehistoric mythologies up to contemporary ontologies. Through its systematic ontology of movement, Being and Motion provides a path-breaking historical ontology of our present.
Thomas is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Denver, and the author of Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari and Zapatismo (2012), The Figure of the Migrant (2015), Theory of the Border (2016) and co-editor of Between Deleuze and Foucault (2016). His work balances philosophical acumen with politically sensitive case studies and pragmatic applications. He’s definitely a scholar-theorist to watch.
Below is a link to Thomas’ new blog/blog post:
The Philosophy of Motion The philosophy of motion is the analysis of phenomena across social, aesthetic, scientific, and ontological domains from the perspective of motion. As such, the ontology of motion is only one part of the philosophy of motion. Most important, and quite simply, the philosophy of motion is defined by the methodological primacy […]
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