Epistemological Questions for a Speculative Pragmatist

Authors

  • Ties van Gemert

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.417

Keywords:

speculative pragmatism, epistemology, metaphysics, panperceptionism, intuition

Abstract

This essay will engage in a critical dialogue with Massumi’s concept of speculative pragmatism by reconstructing and interrogating the epistemology and metaphysics it presupposes. First, we will narrate and explicate the metaphysics embedded in the philosophy of speculative pragmatism. Secondly, we will recapitulate Massumi’s conceptualization of speculative pragmatism in his book Semblance and Event (2011). Our reading of this book will lead us to argue that speculative pragmatism can be reformulated as a philosophy of panperceptionism. The essay will end with some remarks and questions that aim to challenge the epistemology and metaphysics of speculative pragmatism. We will focus on Massumi’s synthesizing of the subject-object distinction, his theory of judgement, and his deflationary notion of truth.

 

Article received: April 16, 2020; Article accepted: July 1, 2020; Published online: April 15, 2021; Original scholarly paper

Author Biography

Ties van Gemert

Tilburg University, Tilburg
Netherlands

Ties van Gemert (b.1994) holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and master’s degrees in Clinical Psychology, Culture Studies, and Philosophy from Tilburg University and Erasmus University. He is currently working as a PhD student at Tilburg University. His project ‘Who is Afraid of Psychology? Reconstructing and Reconsidering the Psychologism Debate’ is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). His research interests include epistemology, philosophy of science, and history of psychology.

References

Deleuze, Gilles. The Logic of Sense. Translated by Constantin V. Boundas, Mark Lester, and Charles Stivale. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. Translated by Brian Massumi. New York: Bloomsbury, 1980.

Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. What is Philosophy? Translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Graham Burchell. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.

James, William. Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003.

Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Norman Kemp Smith. New York: Modern Library Random House, 1958.

Laruelle, François. Principles of Non-Philosophy. Translated by Nicola Rubczak and Anthony Paul Smith. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.

Massumi, Brian. Semblance and Event: Activist Philosophy and the Occurrent Arts. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/7681.001.0001

Sellars, Wilfrid. The Metaphysics of Epistemology: Lectures by Wilfrid Sellars. Edited by Pedro W. Amaral. Atascadero: Ridgeview Publishing Company, 2015.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.417 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.417

Ivana Bašić, I will lull and rock my ailing light in my marble arms #2, 2017

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Published

15.04.2021

How to Cite

van Gemert, T. (2021). Epistemological Questions for a Speculative Pragmatist. AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (24), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i24.417

Issue

No. 24 (2021): Issue No. 24, April 2021 – Main Topic: How to Do Things with Speculative Pragmatism: Pedagogy, Politics, Philosophy

Section

Main Topic: How to Do Things with Speculative Pragmatism: Pedagogy, Politics, Philosophy

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