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This article explains Martin Heidegger's notorious fourfold (Geviert) as the intersection of two distinct dualisms in Heidegger's philosophy. The role of the fourfold in Heidegger's concept of "the thing" is discussed in especial detail.

Heidegger Explained is a clear and thorough summary of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). It gives a fascinating explanation of all stages of Heidegger's life and career, and shows his entire philosophy to emerge from one simple but profound insight. Many philosophers believe that Heidegger was the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century. His influence has long been felt not just in philosophy, but also in such fields as art, architecture, and literary studies. Yet the great difficulty of Heidegger's terminology has often scared away interested readers lacking an academic background in philosophy. Author Graham Harman shows that Heidegger is actually one of the simplest and clearest of thinkers. All the diverse topics of his writings, and all the lengthy analyses he gives of past philosophers, boil down to a single powerful idea: being is not presence. In any human relation with the world, our thinking and even our acting do not fully exhaust the world. Something more always withdraws from our grasp. Neither being itself nor individual beings are ever fully "present-at-hand," in Heidegger's terminology. This single insight allows Heidegger to revolutionize the phenomenology of his teacher Edmund Husserl. The method of Husserl was to focus entirely on how things present themselves to us as phenomena in consciousness. Heidegger understood that the things are always partly hidden from consciousness, living a secret life of their own. Human beings are not lucid scientific observers staring at the world and describing it, but instead are thrown into a world where light is always mixed with shadow. For Heidegger, the entire history of philosophy has reduced being to some sort of presence, whether by defining it as atoms, consciousness, perfect forms, the will to power, or even God. In this way, past philosophers have all chosen one

"One of the fifty most influential living philosophers, a "self-promoting charlatan" (Brian Leiter), and the orchestrator of an "online orgy of stupidity" (Ray Brassier). In Skirmishes: With Friends, Enemies, and Neutrals, Graham Harman responds with flair and wit to some of his best-known critics and fellow travelers. Pulling no punches, Harman gives a masterclass in philosophical argumentation by dissecting, analyzing, and countering their criticism, be it from the Husserlian, Heideggerian, or Derridean corner. At the same time, Skirmishes provides an excellent introduction to the hottest debates in Speculative Realism and Object-Oriented Ontology, a speculative style of philosophy long foreclosed by the biases of mainstream continental thought, but which has turned in recent years into one of the most encompassing philosophies of our time, with a major impact on the arts, humanities, and architecture.Part One considers four prominent books on speculative realism. In dialogue with Tom Sparrow's The End of Phenomenology, Harman expresses agreement with Sparrow's critique while taking issue with Lee Braver's "transgressive realism" as not realist enough. Turning to Steven Shaviro's The Universe of Things, Harman defends his own object-oriented model against Shaviro's brand of process philosophy, while also engaging in side-debate with Levi R. Bryant's distinction between virtual proper being and local manifestations. In the third chapter, on Peter Gratton's Speculative Realism: Problems and Prospects, Harman opposes the author's attempt to use Derridean notions of time and difference against Speculative Realism, in what amounts to his most extensive engagement with Derrida to date. Chapter Four gives us Harman's response to Peter Wolfendale's massive polemic in Object-Oriented Philosophy, which he shows is based on a failed criticism of Harman's reading of Heidegger and a grumpy commitment to rationalist kitsch.Part Two responds to a series of briefer criticisms of object-oriented ontology. When Alberto Toscano accuses Harman and Bruno Latour of "neo-monadological" and anti-scientific thinking, Harman responds that the philosophical factors pushing Leibniz into monadology are still valid today. When Christopher Norris mocks Harman for seeing merit in the occasionalist school, he shows why Norris's middle-of-the-road scientific realism misses the point. In response to Dan Zahavi's contention that phenomenology has little to learn from speculative realism, Harman exposes the holes in Zahavi's reasoning. In a final response, Harman gives a point-by-point answer to Stephen Mulhall's critical foray in the London Review of Books. Amidst these lively debates, Harman sheds new light on what he regards as the central bias of philosophical modernism, which he terms the taxonomical standpoint. It is a book sure to provoke lively controversy among both friends and foes of object-oriented thought."

In this article, American philosopher and founder of speculative realism, Graham Harman (born 1968) analyzes two types of political philosophy: the politics of truth, and the politics of power. Central to the former is the idea of access to political truth; for the latter it's the idea that «might makes right». According to Harman, both approaches rely on the same ontological mistake. This mistake consists in ignoring the role of objects in the service of something greater or smaller than those objects. Harman proposes a way to solve this error by providing a sketch of an object-oriented ontology, and a political philosophy that follows from it. In his opinion, it is free of the defects of the politics of truth and power. Harman draws the theoretical resources for this presentation from Martin Heidegger's writings on Hölderlin.

Moves toward a radically new politics that is both emancipatory and realistDemonstrates the necessity of rethinking 'we' through a rigorous historicisation and analysis of the different concepts underlying our usage of the second-person pluralContinues and moves beyond the formal ethical tool established at the end of The Life IntensePaves the way for a critical reassessment of contemporary obstacles to emancipatory political thinkingConnects the ontological framework of Garcia's Form and Object to the existential and ethical interrogation in The Life Intense while translating the latter into a collective dimensionThroughout the history of human societies, the question of 'we' has always entailed the question of 'us and them', the reconciliation of which can either give birth to or mark the end of a politics. Tristan Garcia's radical historicisation of the ways we have imagined ourselves is more than a commentary on the dynamics of representation in a given society. This work is a rigorous engagement with the history of humanity's attempts at being collectively. For fans of The Life Intense, the first volume in the Letting Be series, We Ourselves is the next step in the development of Garcia's thought, but for those who have not read it, it also stands alone. Garcia provides a methodological framework that critically reinvigorates our dreams of the society to come and clears the way for the return to ontology in Letting Be III

From the Editorial Introduction: "Since I am convinced that nobody reads editorials I will keep my remarks brief. Putting together the inaugural issue of Speculations has been an unusual experience. It has depended on the collusion of fellow speculative types, the help of many anonymous reviewers, the endless patience of designer Thomas Gokey, and more hours than someone in the final year of their PhD should ever spend on a project. Looking over the final product I think it has all been worth it. This is the first journal dedicated to speculative realism and despite the obscurity of that term I think we all understand it as a handy label under which weird realists, continental metaphysicians, object oriented ontologists, transcendental realists, vitalists, and Lovecraftians can unite. This is also, perhaps, the first time a journal can boast that each contributor is also a blogger. This is the reason why Speculations could only ever be an online, open-access journal. …"

GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup(['ISBN:9780748668342','ISBN:9780748668335','ISBN:9780748643530','ISBN:9780748643523','ISBN:9780748643516']);From Cantor to category/topos theory, from Lacan to Lautman and from Sartre to the subject, these 13 essays engage directly with the work of Alain Badiou. They focus on the philosophical content of Badiou's work and show how he connects both with his contemporaries and his philosophical heritage. This is an important collection for anyone interested in the work of Badiou and contemporary Continental philosophy."