Peter Gratton of MUN and Philosophy in a Time of Error has published an article in the open-access Analecta Hermeneutica. It’s called “Meillassoux’s Speculative Politics” and it engages the themes of time, divinity, and politics as well as frames the entire discussion in the context of continental philosophy of religion, which has recently been critiqued at Larval Subjects. Dark Ecologies offers some commentary HERE and After Nature (Leon Niemoczynski) offers some criticism HERE, mostly of the politics entailed in Gratton’s publication.
Niemoczynski complains that Gratton’s article ignores much of the body of secondary literature on Meillassoux and theology, which is a fair point. I know that Niemoczynski writes in this area and has some new work on Meillassoux and religion forthcoming, and that he’s likely referring to himself when he laments Gratton’s oversight. In Gratton’s defense, however, it’s somewhat difficult to locate Niemoczynski’s published work on Meillassoux. For instance, he had linked on his blog to a conference paper that he gave not long ago, but that link appears broken now. His Phil Papers page lists nothing on QM, at least not at first glance. On the other hand, I take it that part of Niemoczynski’s criticism is that he has written much on Meillassoux on his blog, After Nature. And if we are interested in proliferating the influences of open access, then blogs deserve more attention/citation and what he’s written there should be taken into consideration. But maybe he’s not saying this exactly.
I say this in part to reply to Niemoczynski’s claim that his work is being ignored by folks like Gratton and others working in speculative realism. This post is an acknowledgement of his work before it’s a criticism. He’s got something unique to add to the discussion and I’m looking forward to his Speculative Naturalism when it appears. I just don’t think it’s as easy to locate his published stuff on Meillassoux as it would be if he linked to it in his recent post, rather than simply alluding to it. If I’m wrong here, I hope After Nature will set me straight.
In other speculative news, After Nature informs us of a new collective organized around speculative thought, P.E.S.T. , the Philadelphia Entity for Speculative Thought. This new group, so far only a name, immediately brings to mind the D.U.S.T. Collective in Dublin. It would be fantastic to see a network of these groups spring up globally; I can already imagine one in Pittsburgh. Perhaps it would be called P.O.S.T., the Pittsburgh Order of Speculative Thinkers, or some such. Who knows.
