Theory of Identities
François Laruelle author Alyosha Edlebi translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Columbia University Press
Published:14th Jun '16
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A new theory that reconciles scientific and philosophical ideas of the self.Francois Laruelle proposes a theory of identity rooted in scientific notions of symmetry and chaos, emancipating thought from the philosophical paradigm of Being and reconnecting it with the real world. Unlike most contemporary philosophers, Laruelle does not believe language, history, and the world shape identity but that identity determines our relation to these phenomena. Both critical and constructivist, Theory of Identities finds fault with contemporary philosophy's reductive relation to science and its attachment to notions of singularity, difference, and multiplicity, which extends this crude approach. Laruelle's new theory of science, its objects, and philosophy, introduces an original vocabulary to elaborate the concepts of determination, fractality, and artificial philosophy, among other ideas, grounded in an understanding of the renewal of identity. Laruelle's work repairs the rift between philosophical and scientific inquiry and rehabilitates the concept of identity that continental philosophers have widely criticized. His argument positions him clearly against Deleuze, Badiou, the new materialists, and other thinkers who stray too far from empirical approaches that might revitalize philosophy's practical applications.
Theory of Identities constitutes the most illustrative proof that 'non-philosophy is a synthesis of quantum theory and Marxism.' It is a testimony of the dense complexity of Laruelle's genius combining methodologically uncompromising scientific rigor and transgressiveness of a mystic's glance into what most of us would choose to avert our eyes from: the point where the comfort of neurosis ceases to exist, which is also the place where neurosis reestablishes itself. -- Katarina Kolozova, author of Cut of the Real: Subjectivity in Poststructuralist Philosophy Aiming to provide a new practice of philosophy by engaging with scientific concepts in a philosophical way, Theory of Identities opens up a space for truly interdisciplinary projects to develop. Rather than paying mere lip service to interdisciplinarity, Laruelle practices it here in the midst of profound reflections on identity, science, and ethics. -- Anthony Paul Smith, author of Francois Laruelle's Principles of Non-Philosophy: A Critical Introduction and Guide This excellent translation of Theory of Identities will be invaluable to anyone who wants to understand Laruelle's nonstandard epistemology. -- John Mullarkey, coeditor of Laruelle and Non-Philosophy
ISBN: 9780231168946
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
296 pages