don’t overlook DeLanda’s essay

No one is really mentioning DeLanda’s essay in The Speculative Turn, but I think it’s a nice piece of work. (Granted, it’s pretty late in the volume and many readers simply haven’t gotten that far yet.)

In some quarters of contemporary continental philosophy, we are starting to hear the following refrain: “Praise science! Praise science!”

Fair enough, but then why the coolness towards DeLanda from these very same quarters? He already praises science. He does so in a style more lucid than the vast majority of analytic philosophers.

My suspicion is that the “Praise science!” contingent instinctively dislikes DeLanda’s realism. The new scientism in continental thought is not realist in spirit at all. It demands that philosophy continue to be dominated by a central human observer who can either sneer at the world or denounce its worthlessness. DeLanda does neither of these things, and I suspect that’s why he’s not viewed as a kindred spirit in those quarters. Too bad, because there is much they could learn from him (and from Bhaskar, whom they also never seem to read).