New Books in Critical Theory

Graham Harman and Christopher Witmore, "Objects Untimely: Object-Oriented Philosophy and Archaeology" (Polity Press, 2023)


Listen Later

Objects generate time; time does not generate or change objects. That is the central thesis of this book by the philosopher Graham Harman and the archaeologist Christopher Witmore, who defend radical positions in their respective fields.

Against a current and pervasive conviction that reality consists of an unceasing flux - a view associated in philosophy with New Materialism - object-oriented ontology asserts that objects of all varieties are the bedrock of reality from which time emerges. And against the narrative convictions of time as the course of historical events, the objects and encounters associated with archaeology push back against the very temporal delimitations which defined the field and its objects ever since its professionalization in the nineteenth century.

In a study ranging from the ruins of ancient Corinth, Mycenae, and Troy to debates over time from Aristotle and al-Ash'ari through Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead, the authors draw on alternative conceptions of time as retroactive, percolating, topological, cyclical, and generational, as consisting of countercurrents or of a surface tension between objects and their own qualities. Objects Untimely: Object-Oriented Philosophy and Archaeology (Polity Press, 2023) invites us to reconsider the modern notion of objects as inert matter serving as a receptacle for human categories.

Adam Bobeck is a PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Leipzig. His PhD is entitled “Object-Oriented Azadari: Ontology and Ritual Theory”.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in Critical TheoryBy Marshall Poe

  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9

3.9

138 ratings


More shows like New Books in Critical Theory

View all
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,089 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

292 Listeners

London Review Bookshop Podcast by London Review Bookshop

London Review Bookshop Podcast

123 Listeners

Jacobin Radio by Jacobin

Jacobin Radio

1,397 Listeners

The Dig by Daniel Denvir

The Dig

1,524 Listeners

Rev Left Radio by Revolutionary Left Radio

Rev Left Radio

3,242 Listeners

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism by Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism

419 Listeners

Why Theory by Why Theory

Why Theory

561 Listeners

Politics Theory Other by Politics Theory Other

Politics Theory Other

153 Listeners

Hermitix by Hermitix

Hermitix

339 Listeners

Theory & Philosophy by David Guignion

Theory & Philosophy

339 Listeners

Acid Horizon by Acid Horizon

Acid Horizon

174 Listeners

Guerrilla History by Guerrilla History

Guerrilla History

559 Listeners

What's Left of Philosophy by Lillian Cicerchia, Owen Glyn-Williams, Gil Morejón, and William Paris

What's Left of Philosophy

260 Listeners

Ordinary Unhappiness by Patrick & Abby

Ordinary Unhappiness

201 Listeners