In the occasion of the Philosophy of the Web seminars in Lüneburg, we are happy to announce the intervention of Tristan Garcia, who will talk about something (lundi 6 octobreà 18:00 @ Centre for Digital Cultures, Sülztorstr. 21–35, 21335 Lüneburg, 2. Floor). Previous interveners: Alexandre Monnin (FR), Antoine Hennion(FR), Harry Halpin(US), Greg Elmer(CA), Scott Lash(UK), Antoinette Rouvroy(BE)
Abstract: Assuming that the concept of “something” is the weakest possible determination of being, Tristan Garcia will argue that “something” is what is incepted by thinking when it is excepted by thinking; it is so weak, that even its negation turns out to be its affirmation.Tristan Garcia will argue that the onological model he defends in his book “Form and Object -A treatise on Things” is a way to think about the weakest possible something and he will distinguish it from other contemporary speculative models and object-oriented ontologies.That ontology is turning up into something everything that was below “somethingness” (an attribute, a non-existent thing, a contradictory thing), and turning down into something everything that was beyond “somethingness” (a substance, a person, the sacred).
Tristan Garcia will give a glimpse in that radical ontology, stripping all entities of their determinations, intensity or depth, not to produce an effect of universal equivalence, but to find an end to the endless liberal ontology of modernity, and he will suggest to consider the ontological flatness as a gauge to recover the sense of differences between objects, extensive relations and varying intensities.
Born in 1981 in Toulouse, Tristan Garcia (Université de Picardie-Jules Verne) entered in 2000 the École Normale Supérieure. After working with Alain Badiou, he was awarded his PhD for a thesis on the subject of “representation” in human arts, which he had written under the supervision of Sandra Laugier. On the same year, he published his first novel, awarded by the Flore Prize and translated in english under the title: Hate: a romance (Faber & Faber, 2011). Working as a teacher on short-time contract in the University of Amiens, he continued his career as a novelist (Memories from the Jungle, 2010; In the absence of final ranking, 2011; Browser’s chords, 2012; Faber. The destroyer, 2013) and he conducted further researches in metaphysics, leading to the publishing of Form and object. A treatise on things. He wrote critical essays about animal suffering (We, animals and humans, 2011) or TV series (Six Feet Under. Our destinyless lives, 2012). This year, he took a year-long sabbatical, in order to work on a essay about comic books and a new book of philosophy.
This event is part of the series Philosophy of the Web, organized by Dr. Yuk Hui, CDC.
