Mind in the Field: Philosophical realism in the 21st century

The anthology Mind in the Field is an introduction to contemporary philosophical realism within the many different currents of object-oriented ontology, new materialism and speculative realism. The introduction by Lukáš Likavčan, Václav Janoščík and Jiří Růžička stakes out the basic terrain covered by current speculative thinking for both the general public and academics. The following nine translated texts then explore this terrain and offer the latest thoughts on ontology, epistemology, environmental and political philosophy and the theory of science. The texts include rationalistic essays by Alain Badiou, Quentin Meillassoux and Ray Brassier, the object-oriented and materialist ideas of Levi Bryant, Timothy Morton , Jane Bennett and Isabelle Stengers, and the politico-theoretical interventions of Reza Negarestani and the xenofeminist collective LaboriaCuboniks. These essays open the gates to a wide range of debates taking place at the very forefront of today’s philosophical avant-garde, which are grappling with the legacy of (post)Kantian philosophy, phenomenology, analytical philosophy and poststructuralism. Old questions regarding the possibility of knowing the thing-in-itself, the architecture of human cognition, the role of humankind in the planetary network of non-human actors, and the possibility of a universalistic emancipatory project are re-examined in new ways.

The anthology is the 6th title of the AVU Academic Research Centre and the 1st title of the display stratus series.