TY - JOUR
T1 - Why the Turn to Matter Matters
T2 - A Response to Post-Marxist Critiques of New Materialism
AU - Ejsing, Mads
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Theories of new materialism have gained increasing traction in the social and human sciences in recent decades, as thinkers like Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour, and Jane Bennett have reinvigorated the philosophical interest in topics such as the agency of nonhuman matter, the relational nature of existence, and the limitations of anthropocentric forms of inquiry. However, these theories have faced criticism from post-Marxist critical theorists, who argue that theories of new materialism blunt social and capitalist critique and promote obscurity by flattening the world to a single ontological plane. In this article, I argue that these critiques rely on mischaracterizations of new materialist scholarship and that theories of new materialism can in fact help us re-examine – not reject, as their critics suggest – the role of critique, responsibility, and human politics in the context of the Anthropocene and its unfolding ecological crises.
AB - Theories of new materialism have gained increasing traction in the social and human sciences in recent decades, as thinkers like Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour, and Jane Bennett have reinvigorated the philosophical interest in topics such as the agency of nonhuman matter, the relational nature of existence, and the limitations of anthropocentric forms of inquiry. However, these theories have faced criticism from post-Marxist critical theorists, who argue that theories of new materialism blunt social and capitalist critique and promote obscurity by flattening the world to a single ontological plane. In this article, I argue that these critiques rely on mischaracterizations of new materialist scholarship and that theories of new materialism can in fact help us re-examine – not reject, as their critics suggest – the role of critique, responsibility, and human politics in the context of the Anthropocene and its unfolding ecological crises.
U2 - 10.1177/07255136241240086
DO - 10.1177/07255136241240086
M3 - Journal article
VL - 181
SP - 56
EP - 71
JO - Thesis Eleven
JF - Thesis Eleven
SN - 0725-5136
IS - 1
ER -