COMET I: Jane Bennett – Vibrant Matter
In Vibrant Matter the political theorist Jane Bennett, renowned for her work on nature, ethics, and affect, shifts her focus from the human experience of things to things themselves.
Bennett argues that political theory needs to do a better job of recognizing the active participation of nonhuman forces in events. Toward that end, she theorizes a “vital materiality” that runs through and across bodies, both human and nonhuman. Bennett explores how political analyses of public events might change were we to acknowledge that agency always emerges as the effect of ad hoc configurations of human and nonhuman forces. She suggests that recognizing that agency is distributed this way, and is not solely the province of humans, might spur the cultivation of a more responsible, ecologically sound politics: a politics less devoted to blaming and condemning individuals than to discerning the web of forces affecting situations and events.
Bennett examines the political and theoretical implications of vital materialism through extended discussions of commonplace things and physical phenomena including stem cells, fish oils, electricity, metal, and trash. She reflects on the vital power of material formations such as landfills, which generate lively streams of chemicals, and omega-3 fatty acids, which can transform brain chemistry and mood.
Along the way, she engages with the concepts and claims of Spinoza, Nietzsche, Thoreau, Darwin, Adorno, and Deleuze, disclosing a long history of thinking about vibrant matter in Western philosophy, including attempts by Kant, Bergson, and the embryologist Hans Driesch to name the “vital force” inherent in material forms. Bennett concludes by sketching the contours of a “green materialist” ecophilosophy.
To join or leave this study group, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
Coordinators
Dr. Arjen Kleinherenbrink
Center for Contemporary European Philosophy, Radboud University
Upcoming activities of this group
Past activities of this group
Topic & aim
Is the ‘Queen of all the Sciences’ back to reclaim her throne? Following decades of distrust and even contempt for metaphysics, serious interest in ‘first philosophy’ has surged among continental philosophers since the turn of the millennium. As a result, there is now a rich and growing body of literature – often associated with labels such as Speculative Realism, New Materialism, and New Realism – dedicated to classical as well as contemporary metaphysical questions.
This study group aims to explore that literature, one book at a time.
Set-up & practicalities
When Biweekly (even weeks) on Fridays, 15:00-17:00, starting February 10, 2023
Where On campus at Radboud University
How You read one or two chapters that are then discussed during the meetings
Who Researchers and (research) master students in philosophy or an adjacent discipline. Undergraduate students are welcome but must add a motivation to their registration.
Register Send an email to arjen.kleinherenbrink@ru.nl
OZSW members who belong to this group
| Member | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Kleinherenbrink, Arjen | Radboud University Nijmegen |
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