Object-Oriented Ontology

What is reality, really? Are humans more special or important than the non-human objects we perceive? How does this change our understanding of the world? We humans tend to believe that things are only real insofar as we perceive them, an idea reinforced by modern philosophy that privileges us as special and radically different compared to all other objects. However, as Graham Harman, one of the leading proponents of this theory, shows, object-oriented ontology rejects the idea of human exceptionalism: The world, he explains, is obviously not the world as it appears to humans. At the core of this philosophy is the notion that objects—whether real, fictional, natural, artificial, human, or non-human—are mutually autonomous. In this brilliant new introduction, Graham Harman outlines the history, ideas, and implications of object-oriented ontology, encompassing everything from art and literature to politics and natural sciences. Graham Harman is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. He is a key figure in the contemporary movement of speculative realism in philosophy and for his development of the field of object-oriented ontology. Art Review magazine named him one of the 100 most influential figures in international art.