Research Oscar de Nijs Bik

Abstract

In what way should we conceive of the material world as the source of normativity, interconnectivity, and value? How does the recognition that non-human entities have agency enable ethical motivation? How should we conceive of the human agent when her exceptional status has done so much damage? These questions take centre stage in new materialist theory, but are paradoxically accommodated for in relation to an implicit and weak anthropological framework. The paradox resides in (1) an ethical dimension implicated in an ontological revaluation of reality wherein the human agent is simultaneously deprived from its superior agential capacity, yet manifestly addressed as the very being who has to take up a specific stance towards the material world; (2) in the way this human agent is ultimately addressed in order to respond more adequately to issues in the ethico-political realm: through a limited set of capacities at odds with the normative appeal of the very ethico-political issues new materialists pursue. This project addresses and overcomes this double paradox by developing a strong anthropological framework that is both more consistent with new materialism's own theoretical commitments and thereby potentially reinforces its normative pursuit. This framework is outlined as a new materialist anthropology.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Vriese Herbert
• Co-promoter: Meijer Michiel
• Fellow: de Nijs Bik Oscar

Research team(s)

• Center for European Philosophy

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In what way should we conceive of the material world as the locus of normativity, interconnectivity, and value? How enables the recognition that nonhuman entities have agency ethical motivation? How should we conceive of the human agent when her exceptional status is being overthrown for causing so much havoc? These questions take centre stage in new materialist ethics, but are paradoxically accommodated for in relation to a disavowed and implicit anthropological framework. The paradox resides in (1) an ethical dimension implicated in an ontological revaluation of reality wherein the human agent is simultaneously banned from its superior agential capacity, yet manifestly addressed as the very being who has to take up a specific stance towards the material world; (2) in the way this ethical dimension is ultimately accounted for, namely, via a counterintuitively subjectivist understanding of ethics. Taking both points together, a double paradox in new materialist ethics can be discerned. Although the refutation of exclusively human agency is the underlying motif of new materialist thinking, this project addresses this double paradox by shifting focus towards an object-oriented-anthropology as a hermeneutical framework to combat these theoretical difficulties and reinforce the normative force akin to new materialist ontological narratives.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: De Vriese Herbert
• Co-promoter: Meijer Michiel
• Fellow: de Nijs Bik Oscar

Research team(s)

• Center for European Philosophy

Project type(s)

• Research Project