Negative Dialectics before Object-Oriented Philosophy: Negation and Event

• Main Author: Novis Kenneth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2020-05-01
• Series: Open Philosophy
• Subjects: adorno; althusser; dialectics; grounding; hyperbolic reading; laruelle; materialism; meta-philosophy; non-philosophy; object-oriented ontology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0100

An important question in Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and its associated literature is how OOO relates to its competitor theories. This article is a meta-philosophical investigation into OOO and its grounding, which hopes to fully theorise this relation, deriving ultimately a “negative dialectic” that emphasises the irreducible differences between OOO and non-OOO. Beginning by analysing the use of OOO as a “starting point”, I consider Althusser’s various contributions to meta-philosophical debates. This leads me to focus on Harman’s notion of “hyperbolic reading”, and on how attempts to hyperbolically ground OOO force it to immanently include its competitors. Finally, I apply these insights to systematise both the negative dialectical relation between OOO and non-OOO and the becoming-OOO of thinking, by applying Laruelle’s Non-Philosophy.