Organic Materialism and Philosophy of Technology

“Kwapi¿ska makes the compelling case that a revitalised philosophy of nature (drawn from Schelling and Whitehead) is the much-needed shift in our habits of thought that can undermine the mechanistic materialism underpinning capitalist dynamics of self-destruction. If you have followed Stiegler and Hui on similar terrain, then pick up this book and add it to your reading list.”

—Dr Iain MacKenzie, University of Kent, Kent, UK

This book demonstrates how the totalization of mechanistic materialism is inherent to global capitalism and how this totalization, coupled with techno-theism (the belief that technology will save us as a universal political project) and growth-mania (the belief in economic growth as a remedy to all socio-political issues), leads to the exhaustion of mind and nature. This book is an extensive examination of how the conceptualization of the relationship between thought and matter is at the core of philosophies of nature, philosophies of technology, and theories of political economy, and of the reasons why we must urgently rethink this relationship.  Kwapi¿ska argues that we must dig deep into our intellectual habits to enable noo- and bio- diversity and resist the totalizing tendencies of global capitalism. The book calls for the diversification of methods in social sciences, and the incorporation of process perspectives, to deal with the fact that orthodox ontologies and methods have failed to predict and manage consecutive economic and socio-political crises.

Kamila Kwapi¿ska is associated with the Centre for Critical Thought, and a Visiting Academic in the School of Economics, Politics and International Relations, University of Kent, Canterbury.