What's Real Is Immaterial: What Are We Doing With New Materialism?

Date
2020-06-01
Authors
Nicholls, D
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Ottawa
Abstract

New materialism is emerging as one of the most significant developments in healthcare research in recent years, offering radical new ways to rethink our critical relationship with forms, matter, objects and things. As with any new paradigm, it can take some time for the limitations of the approach to become clear. In this article I examine some of these limitations, focusing particularly on new materialist definitions of objects and the ontology of affect. Drawing on the recent work of Graham Harman and Timothy Morton, I argue that new materialism fails the ‘flat ontology test’, and reinforces the kinds of idealism that it purports to critique. Object Oriented Ontology, on the other hand, may allow us to shape a radical new ethics of objects, using that to transform our abusive relationship with the ecosystem, disturb traditional enlightenment binaries and hierarchies, and to put aside human hubris.

Description
Keywords
Object oriented ontology , New materialism
Source
Aporia, 2019: Vol.11, Issue 2
DOI
Rights statement
Aporia is an open access journal, for which there are no submission, publication, or processing fees. Authors retain copyright, and are able to enter into separate contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of their published material. Articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.