2021/10/15

Wikipedia Quentin Meillassoux After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency



    クァンタン・メイヤスー - Wikipedia
     Quentin Meillassoux
    クァンタン・メイヤスー
    出典: フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』

    クァンタン・メイヤスー
    Quentin Meillassoux  生誕 1967年10月26日（53歳）
    フランス・パリ[1]
    時代 現代哲学
    20世紀の哲学、21世紀の哲学
    地域 西洋哲学
    学派 思弁的実在論
    研究分野 唯物論、数学の哲学、実在論
    主な概念 思弁的唯物論、相関主義、事実性、原‐化石、絶対時間

    影響を受けた人物:[表示]

    影響を与えた人物:[表示]
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    クァンタン・メイヤスー（Quentin Meillassoux, 1967年10月26日 - ）は、フランスの哲学者。パリ第1大学パンテオン・ソルボンヌで教鞭を執る。人類学者クロード・メイヤスーの息子。カンタン・メイヤスーとも表記される。


    目次
    1『有限性の後で』
    2展開
    3批判的受容
    4著作
    4.1単著
    4.2論文
    5参考文献
    5.1批判的研究
    6脚注
    7外部リンク
    『有限性の後で』[編集]

    メイヤスーは高等師範学校で哲学者のベルナール・ブルジョワとアラン・バディウの薫陶を受けた。バディウはメイヤスーの処女作『有限性の後で（Après la finitude）』（2006年）の序文を執筆し[2]、そこで同書は近代哲学にとっての全く新しい選択肢を紹介するものであり、イマヌエル・カントの3つの選択肢、すなわち批判主義、懐疑主義、独断主義のどれとも異なるものであると述べた[3]。同書は哲学者のレイ・ブラシエにより英訳された。メイヤスーは思弁的実在論運動に関連付けられている。

    同書でメイヤスーはポスト・カント哲学が「相関主義（correlationism）」と彼が呼ぶものに支配されていると主張している[4]。それは人間は世界なしに存在できず、また世界も人間なしには存在できないとする立場で、あまり公言されることはない理論である。メイヤスーによれば、これは不誠実な戦略であり、あらゆる人間のアクセスに先立って世界がどのように存在しているか、そしてそれをいかにして記述するかという問題を回避してしまう。彼はこの前‐人間的な現実を「祖先以前的（ancestral）」領域と名付ける[5][6]。師であるアラン・バディウが数学に対して関心を抱いていた影響もあり、数学は物体の知覚において表れる二次性質ではなく一次性質そのものに達することができるとメイヤスーは主張する。

    原因と結果の存在を疑う不可知論的懐疑主義者たちは、そもそも因果的必然性など全く存在しないというラディカルな主張を取るべきだとメイヤスーは示そうとする。この主張により、自然法則が偶然的であるということそれ自体は絶対的に必然的である、という主張をメイヤスーは宣言することになる。世界は超（ハイパー）カオス的であり、無矛盾律は保持されるが、充足理由律は打ち捨てられるのである。

    これらの理由により、メイヤスーは哲学においてカントのコペルニクス的転回を拒絶する。カントは観察者である人間の条件に世界を依存させてしまっており、「プトレマイオス的反革命」を起こしたとしてメイヤスーは非難する。
    展開[編集]

    メイヤスーの論文のいくつかは英訳され、イギリスの哲学雑誌『Collapse』に掲載されたことで英語圏での関心を集めた[7]。未刊行の博士論文『L'inexistence divine』（1997年）は、単著として出版を予定されている[8]。

    2011年9月、メイヤスーはステファヌ・マラルメについて論じた著作『Le nombre et la sirène. Un déchiffrage du Coup de dés de Mallarmé』をフランスで発表した[9]。第二作目にあたる同書にて、彼はマラルメの有名な詩『骰子一擲』を詳細に読み解き、テクストに秘められた数的暗号を解き明かしている[10]。

    メイヤスーは2012年にベルリン自由大学で行った講義にて、『有限性の後で』で表明した見解のいくつかを明確化した上で部分的に修正している[11]。
    批判的受容[編集]

    フランスの分析哲学者パスカル・アンジェルは、思弁的実在論とその他の現代的実在論を扱った論考において、メイヤスーの立場を「キッチュな実在論（réalismes kitsch）」と呼び批判的に反応している[12]。メイヤスーの『有限性の後で』における論証（他の「新実在論者」と同様に「尊大かつ不明瞭で、大部分が自己言及的」だとみなされる）を分析した上で、アンジェルはメイヤスーの筆致が「傲慢」だと述べる。この自己言及的な筆致のおかげで、メイヤスーは「自分が反駁しようとする立場を自ら定義し、概念に対して自分が意図した通りの意味を与え、止められないとみなした議論を推し進めることで、厚顔無恥としか言いようがない結論の真実性を説得的に示すという見事な技をやってのける」[12]。パスカル・アンジェルによれば、「メイヤスーは盛んに相関について語るが、その相関とやらが一体どのような関係なのかについては何も語らない。それはものと思考の間の関係であり、伝統的に真理の対応説として定義されてきた理論だと考えたくなるだろう。しかし、メイヤスーは真理の概念について論じることを注意深く避けており、また関係についてはそれ以上に触れないようにしている。［…］実際、相関主義とは単にカント的批判主義の別名であるように思われ、そこから派生する全ての思想はその変種にすぎない」。そして、パスカル・アンジェルは批判的分析を次のように結論付ける。「『有限性の後で』の主張は結局のところ、実在論の一種である、ある種の絶対的観念論に近いものだと言える」[12].。
    著作[編集]
    単著[編集]
    Quentin Meillassoux および Alain Badiou (préface), Après la finitude. Essai sur la nécessité de la contingence, Paris, Seuil,‎ 2006［英訳］After Finitude: An Essay On The Necessity Of Contingency, trans. Ray Brassier (Continuum, 2008)［和訳］千葉雅也、大橋完太郎、星野太訳『有限性の後で』人文書院、2016年
    Quentin Meillassoux, Le Nombre et la sirène. Un déchiffrage du Coup de dés de Stéphane Mallarmé, Paris, Fayard,‎ 2011［英訳］The Number and the Siren:A Decipherment of Mallarme's Coup De Des, trans. Robin Mackay (Urbanomic, 2012)
    Speculaive Solution, Editions Mego, Urbanomic, 2011 (coffret produit par Florian Hecker contenant un CD avec 4 compositions musicales de ce dernier (Speculative Solution 1, 2, 2 et Octave Chronics), des textes Anglais/Français de Quentin Meillassoux (Métaphysique et fiction hors-science), Robin Mackay (Ceci est ceci) et Elie Ayache (Le futur réel), une Bibliographie ainsi que 5 billes en métal (diamètre de 3, 669 mm) - cf. le Colophon du livret)
    Quentin Meillassoux, Métaphysique et fiction des mondes hors-science, Paris, Aux forges de Vulcain,‎ 2013 (édition révisée - et annexée de la nouvelle La boule de billard d'Isaac Asimov -, d'une conférence donnée à l'ENS le 18 mai 2006 dans le cadre de la journée d'études Science-fiction et métaphysique)［英訳］Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction, trans. Alyosha Edlebi (Univocal, 2015)
    Quentin Meillassoux, Time without becoming, Mimesis Edizioni, coll. Mimesis international, 2014 (inédit en français)
    Quentin Meillassoux, Iteration, Reiteration, Repetition: Eine spekulative analyse des bedeutungslosen zeichens, Merve Verlag Gmbh, 2015 (inédit en français)［英訳］Iteration, Reiteration, Repetition: A Speculative Analysis of the Meaningless Sign, trans. Robin Mackay (2012)
    論文[編集]
    « Nouveauté et événement », in Alain Badiou. Penser le multiple, C. Ramond (éd)., Paris, L’Harmattan, 2002.(conférence prononcée en octobre 1999: il s'agit de la première allocution du philosophe puis du premier texte publié après sa soutenance de thèse en 1997)
    « Deuil à venir, dieu à venir », Critique, janvier-février 2006, no 704-705.［英訳］Spectral dilemma, in Collapse vol. IV:Concept Horror,.[13]［和訳］岡嶋隆佑訳「亡霊のジレンマ――来るべき喪、来るべき神」『現代思想』2015年1月号所収。
    « Potentialité et virtualité », Failles, Printemps 2006, no 2.［英訳］Potentiality and virtuality, in Collapse, vol. II:Speculative Realism.[14]［和訳］黒木萬代訳「潜勢力と潜在性」『現代思想』2014年1月号所収。
    « Temps et surgissement ex nihilo », École normale supérieure, 24 avril 2006.
    « Métaphysique et fiction des mondes hors-science », École normale supérieure, 18 mai 2006.［和訳］神保夏子訳「形而上学とエクストロサイエンス・フィクション」、フロリアン・ヘッカー『Speculative Solution & 3 Channel Chronics』所収、2012年。
    « La décision et l’indécidable dans L’Être et l’événement I et II », École normale supérieure, 24 novembre 2006. (repris dans l'ouvrage Autour de Logiques des mondes).
    "Destination des corps subjectivables". École normale supérieure, 24 novembre 2006. (repris dans l'ouvrage Autour de Logiques des mondes).
    "Peut-on penser le hasard?" (avec Raphael Enthoven et Louis Garel), conférence in Cycle Leçon de philosophie, le sens de la vie, BNF, 13 mars 2007
    "Correlation and factuality", in Collapse vol. II, novembre 2007
    "Speculative Realism", in Collapse III (cf. particulièrement p. 408-435), Urbanomic, 2007 (Actes du colloque Speculative Realism, 27 avril 2007, University of London)
    "Question canonique et facticité", in Pourquoi y a-t-il quelque chose plutôt que rien?, F.Wolff (èd), PUF, 2007 et 2013
    "Spéculation et contingence", in L'héritage de la raison - hommage à Bernard Bourgeois. E. Cattin F. Fischbach (èd), Ellipse, 2007
    "Matérialisme et surgissement ex nihilo", MIR revue d'anticipation, juin 2007
    « Soustraction et contraction, à propos d’une remarque de Deleuze sur Matière et mémoire », Philosophie, décembre 2007,no 96, p. 67-93［英訳］Subtraction and Contraction:Deleuze, Immanence and Matter and Memory, in Collapse, vol. III:Unknown Deleuze.[15]［和訳］岡嶋隆佑訳「減算と縮約」『現代思想』2013年1月号所収。
    "Contingence et absolutisation de l'un", conférence donnée au colloque Métaphysique, ontologie, hénologie, La Sorbonne Paris-I, 2008
    « Histoire et événement chez Alain Badiou », intervention au séminaire "Marx au XXIe siècle" le 6 février 2008 (vidéo). version écrite de l'intervention sur le site "Marx au XXIe siècle"
    « Stage de rentrée : Pratiques actuelles de la philosophie », École normale supérieure, 24 septembre 2008.
    « L'immanence d'outre-Monde », Revista Ethica, Cadernos Academicos, volume 16, no 2, 2009.
    "Métaphysique, spéculation, corrélation", in Ce peu d'espace autour. B. Mabille (èd), De la Transparence, 2010
    "Que peut la métaphysique en ces temps de crise?", entretien in The question, Les influences, 5 février 2010
    "Penser le fanatisme post-dogmatique", Le débat, mai-août 2010, n°160
    « Badiou et Mallarmé : l'événement et le peut-être », in Autour d'Alain Badiou, Germina, 2011
    "Répétition, itération, réitération. Une analyse spéculative du signe dépourvu de sens", conférence in Les lundis de la philosophie 2010-2011, 23 février 2011
    "Le Coup de dés, décryptage d'un Mètre infini", Le chiffre & le texte (formes d'usages), mars 2012
    "Time without becoming", in Spike/Kunstmagazin-Art Magazine, printemps 2013
    "L'inexistence divine, projet d'introduction d'un livre à venir", Failles 3, mars 2014
    "Le nombre de Mallarmé", Transversalités, 2015/3 (n°134), p. 115-139
    "Le réel et le signe dépourvu de sens", conférence in Séminaire Le réalisme en questions, La Sorbonne, 30 mai 2015
    "Principe du signe creux", conférence in Les lundis de la philosophie 2015-2016, ENS, 18 janvier 2016
    参考文献[編集]
    Olivier Ducharme et Pierre-Alexandre Fradet, Une vie sans bon sens. Regard philosophique sur Pierre Perrault (dialogue entre Perrault, Nietzsche, Henry, Bourdieu, Meillassoux), préface de Jean-Daniel Lafond, Montréal, Éditions Nota bene, coll. "Philosophie continentale", 2016, 210 p. -- à propos du livre : http://strassdelaphilosophie.blogspot.ca/2016/02/le-realisme-eclectique-de-pierre.html
    "The Meillassoux Dictionary", Edited by Peter Gratton and Paul J. Ennis, Edinburgh University Press, 2014
    Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux: Philosophy in the Making, Edinburgh University Press, 2011
    "French Philosophy Today: New Figures of the Human in Badiou, Meillassoux, Malabou, Serres and Latour", Christopher Watkin, Edinburgh University Press, 2016 (cf chapter 2: Quentin Meillassoux: Suprem Human Value Meets Anti-anthropocentrism)
    "Difficult Atheism: Post-Theological Thinking in Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux", Christopher Watkin, Edinburgh University Press, 2013 (cf chapter 4: Beyond A/theism? Quentin Meillassoux)
    http://jeancletmartin.blog.fr/2012/04/07/in-the-zone-entre-stalker-et-meillassoux-13441542/
    Dossier "Le réalisme spéculatif entre athéisme et messianisme" autour de Quentin Meillassoux
    "Excerps from L'Inexistence divine" et "Interview with Quentin Meillassoux (August 2010)", in Quentin Meillassoux philosophy in the making, Graham Harman, Edinburgh University Press, 2011 (Second edition in 2015)
    "Chronique: Mallarmé: Séance académique autour de Quentin Meillassoux", Transversalités, 2015/3 (n°134), p. 109-144
    Benoit Monginot, Poétique de la contingence: poétique, critique et théorie à partir de Mallarmé, Valéry et Reverdy, Honoré Champion (collection Bibliothèque de littérature générale et comparée), 2015 (plusieurs chapitres sont consacrés au philosophe)
    浅田彰「メイヤスーによるマラルメ」、『REALKYOTO』2011年9月26日公開。
    影浦亮平「カンタン・メイヤスーの思弁的唯物論」、京都外国語大学『国際言語文化』創刊号、2015年、19-30頁。
    熊谷謙介「偶然と女――マラルメ『賽の一振り』分析」、『人文研究』（神奈川大学人文学会）178巻、2012年、1-29頁。
    批判的研究[編集]
    Slavoj Zizek, Interlude 5: Correlationism and Its Discotents, in Less than nothing. Hegel and the shadow of dialectical materialism (p. 625-647), Verso, 2012［仏訳］ Intermède 6: Malaise dans le corrélationisme, in Moins que rien. Hegel et l'ombre du matérialisme dialectique (p. 751-780) , trad. Christine Vivier, Fayard, 2015 (préface: Alain Badiou)
    Françoise Balibar, Recherche de l'absolu et catastrophe kantienne - Quentin Meillassoux, Après la finitude, Critique 707, Minuit, 2006
    Pierre Cassou-Nogues, La fiction spéculative et le corrélationisme 1, traduction et remaniement après un échange de courriel avec Q. Meillassoux d'une conférence donnée au colloque Reflexivity and fictionality en septembre 2015 à l'Université de Hambourg
    Pascal Engel, « Le réalisme kitsch », Carnet Zilsel, 20 juin 2015.
    Edouard Simca, "Recension: Q. Meillassoux, Après la finitude: Essai sur la nécessité de la contingence, Paris, Seuil, 2006"'
    Alberto Toscano, Against speculation, or, A Critique of the Critique of Critique: A Remark on Quentin Meillassoux's After Finitude (After Colletti), in The Speculative Turn Continental Materialism and Realism, L. Bryant, N. Snricek and G. Harman (èd), re.press, Melbourne, 2011
    Adrian Johnston, Humes's Revenge: A Dieu, Meillassoux?, in The Speculative Turn Continental Materialism and Realism, L. Bryant, N. Snricek and G. Harman (èd), re.press, Melbourne, 2011
    Martin Hagglund, Radical Atheist Materialism: A Critique of Meillassoux, in The Speculative Turn Continental Materialism and Realism, L. Bryant, N. Snricek and G. Harman (èd), re.press, Melbourne, 2011
    Peter Hallward, Anything is Possible: A Reading of Quentin Meillassoux's After Finitude, in The Speculative Turn Continental Materialism and Realism, L. Bryant, N. Snricek and G. Harman (èd), re.press, Melbourne, 2011［仏訳］Tout est possible, à propos de Quentin Meillassoux, Après la finitude. Essai sur la nécessité de la contingence, trad. Olivier Surel, La Revue Internationale des Livres & des Idées (RILI) numéro 9, 12 janvier 2009
    Nathan Brown, The Speculative and the Specific: On Hallward and Meillassoux, in The Speculative Turn Continental Materialism and Realism, L. Bryant, N. Snricek and G. Harman (èd), re.press, Melbourne, 2011
    « Meillassoux's Virtual Future » Graham Harman (en anglais) continent., Printemps 2011, no 78–91.
    Raphael Millière et Thibaut Giraud, Après la certitude: à propos des erreurs logiques de Meillassoux, ATMOC, 2013 (une version en langue anglaise existe)
    Extrait de L'Effet Meillassoux, inédit de Mehdi Belhaj Kacem http://mehdibelhajkacem.over-blog.com/article-mehdi-belhaj-kacem-extrait-inedit-de-l-effet-meillassoux-122548586.html
    脚注[編集]

    ^ “Quentin Meillassoux - CIEPFC:Centre International d'Etude de la Philosophie Française Contemporaine”. Ciepfc.fr. 2011年9月21日閲覧。
    ^ Après la finitude. Essai sur la nécessité de la contingence, Paris, Seuil, coll. L'ordre philosophique, 2006 (foreword by Alain Badiou).
    ^ After Finitude, trans. Ray Brassier, Continuum, 2008, foreword, p. VII
    ^ After Finitude, Chap. 1, p.5
    ^ After Finitude, Chap. 1, p.10
    ^ http://www.jimbunshoin.co.jp/files/intro_apres_la_finitude.pdf
    ^ Quentin Meillassoux, Spectral Dilemma
    ^ After Finitude, Bibliography, p.141
    ^ “Le nombre et la sirène”. Amazon.fr. 2011年9月22日閲覧。
    ^ “Graham Harman (website), Meillassoux on Mallarmé”. 2011年9月25日閲覧。
    ^ Iteration, Reiteration, Repetition:A speculative analysis of the meaningless sign Freie Universitat Berlin, April 20, 2012
    ^ a b c Pascal Engel, « Le réalisme kitsch », Carnet Zilsel, 20 juin 2015.
    ^ “Collapse Vol. IV:Concept Horror”. Urbanomic. 2011年9月21日閲覧。
    ^ “Collapse Vol. II:Speculative Realism”. Urbanomic. 2011年9月21日閲覧。
    ^ “Collapse Vol. III:Unknown Deleuze [+ Speculative Realism”. Urbanomic. 2011年9月21日閲覧。
    外部リンク[編集]
    Recording of Meillassoux's 2007 lecture in English at the Speculative Realism Conference at Goldsmiths, University of London
    Conferences by Meillassoux (in French)
    Speculative Heresy blog resources page, which contains articles by Meillassoux




    After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency

    by
    Quentin Meillassoux,
    Ray Brassier (Translator),
    Alain Badiou (Preface)
    4.02 · Rating details · 892 ratings · 78 reviews
    It is no exaggeration to say that Quentin Meillassoux has opened up a new path in the history of philosophy, understood here as the history of what it is to know ... This remarkable "critique of critique" is introduced here without embellishment, cutting straight to the heart of the matter in a particularly clear and logical manner. It allows the destiny of thought to be the absolute once more.


    "This work is one of the most important to appear in continental philosophy in recent years and deserves a wide readership at the earliest possible date ... Après la finitude is an important book of philosophy by an authnted emerging voices in continental thought. Quentin Meillassoux deserves our close attention in the years to come and his book deserves rapid translation and widespread discussion in the English-speaking world. There is nothing like it."
    —Graham Harman in Philosophy Today

    The exceptional lucidity and the centrality of argument in Meillassoux's writing should appeal to analytic as well as continental philosophers, while his critique of fideism will be of interest to anyone preoccupied by the relation between philosophy, theology and religion. Meillassoux introduces a startlingly novel philosophical alternative to the forced choice between dogmatism and critique. After Finitude proposes a new alliance between philosophy and science and calls for an unequivocal halt to the creeping return of religiosity in contemporary philosophical discourse. (less)
      ==
        Editorial Reviews
        Review
        'Rarely do we encounter a book which not only meets the highest standards of thinking, but sets up itself new standards, transforming the entire field into which it intervenes. Quentin Meillassoux does exactly this.' Slavoj Zizek



        'In his clearly argued essay, now available in an excellent English translation, the French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux shows that subjectivity and objectivity must be conceived of independently of each other ... It is a truly philosophical work in that it develops the original idea of a speculative materialism with uncompromising passion and great consistency.'
        Alexander Garcia Düttmann, Professor of Philosophy and Visual Culture, Goldsmiths University of London, UK


        'You may entirely disagree with the author's solution (I do) but not with the courage with which he proposes to escape from the prison of discourse and to put the much abused metaphor of the Copernican Revolution right at last.'
        Bruno Latour


        "Talented and exciting new voice in contemporary French philosophy"—Bookseller Buyers Guide
        (Bookseller Buyers Guide)

        'An exceptionally clear and careful writer... Quentin Meillassoux launches a stinging attack upon the state of philosophy in general, and takes initial steps towards a form of speculative philosophy which, he thinks, overcomes the shortcomings he has identified.' - John Appleby, The Philosopher's Magazine, Issue 43, 4th Quarter 2008


        "It's easy to see why Meillassoux's After Finitude has so quickly acquired something of a cult status among some readers who share his lack of reverance for 'the way things are'. The book is exceptionally clear and concise, entirely devoted to a single chain of reasoning. It combines a confident insitence on the self-sufficiency of rational demonstration with an equally rationalist suspicion of mere experience and consensus....[this] is a beautifully written and seductively argued book." - Peter Hallward, Radical Philosophy, 2008


        "After Finitude will certainly play a central role in ongoing debates on the status of philosophy, on questions pertaining to epistemology and, above all, to ontology. It will not only be an unavoidable point of reference for those working on the question of finitude, but also for those whose work deals with political theology, and the status of the religious turn of philosophy. After Finitude will certainly become an ideal corrosive against too rigid assumptions and will shake entrenched positions." — Gabriel Riera, University of Illinois, Chicago, in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2008

        "There is something absolutely exhilarating about Meillassoux's argument, and it is not difficult to see why his book has already aroused so much interest. The exposition and critique of correlationism is brilliant and Meillassoux is at his best when showing the philosophical complacency of contemporary Kantians and phenomenologists. The proposal of speculative realism is audacious and bracing, particularly when he defends the idea of nature as a 'glacial universe', cold and indeifferent to humans. Such is Pascal's 'Eternal silence of infinite spaces', but without the consolation of a wager of God's existence. However, by Mellassoux's own admission, his proposal is incomplete and we await its elaboration in future books. Although, his style of presentation can turn into a sort of fine-grained logic-chopping worthy of Duns Scotus, the rigour, clarity and passion of the argument can be breathtaking." — Simon Critchley, TLS, Feb 2009

        "Meillassoux addresses the question whether natural laws are necessary, and if so why, raised by Kant and gnawed by subsequent philosophers from Hume to Foucault. He offers a logical proof that the only feature of the laws of nature that is absolutely necessary is that they are contingent. He explores the ethical and metaphysical implications. Brassier translates Apres la finitude, which was published in 2006 by Editions du Seuil." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.



        'A penetrating critique of the post-Kantian "correlationism" that has dominated philosophy on the European mainland over the last 250 years.' - Books of the Year, Times Literary Supplement --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
        About the Author
        Ray Brassier is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
        Product details
        ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00OG4EEVW
        Publisher ‏ : ‎ Continuum; 1st edition (November 5, 2009)
        Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 5, 2009
        Language ‏ : ‎ English
        File size ‏ : ‎ 1302 KB
        Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
        Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
        Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
        X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
        Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
        Print length ‏ : ‎ 157 pages
        Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
        Best Sellers Rank: #425,640 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
        #244 in Modern Philosophy (Kindle Store)
        #1,215 in Modern Philosophy (Books)
        #66,781 in History (Books)
        Customer Reviews: 4.1 out of 5 stars    40 ratings
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        quentin meillassoux ray brassier starting point modern philosophy absolute contingency alain badiou continental philosophy book is highly meillassoux says meillassoux confronts in after finitude meillassoux will release a book truth correlationism subject object philosophical reality arguments ancestral ideas

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        Matthew RapaportTop Contributor: Philosophy
        5.0 out of 5 stars Great example of modern philosophy bridging the realist-antirealist divide
        Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2017
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        Meillassoux's writing reminds me much of other top tier philosophers of the present day like E. J. Lowe (recently passed away), David Chalmers and a few others. Not in what he says of course his starting points and subject are different, but stylistically, carefully crafting his arguments and at each point stopping to describe and evaluate alternatives advanced by his contemporaries and historical predecessors. In "After Finitude" he begins, conceptually, with Hume and Kant, accepting with the latter that the proper starting point for philosophy is the world experienced by humans; what can be thought, but rejecting in both the idea that we cannot come to "know", in the sense of rely-on experience, to deliver genuine insight into the world in itself.

        Meillassoux rejects speculative metaphysics (mostly coming down these days to religion) and accepts the generally anti-realist notion that the Principle of Sufficient Reason, need not apply to the world apart from human experience of it, but holds that the principle of non-contradiction should not be abandoned. Even if we cannot conceptually embrace infinite possibility (totalize the world), it cannot be that the world contradicts itself. All of this comes down to there being no absolutes, no "necessary being" and no "thinkable totality of all possibility" except for the fact of contingency. The only absolute for Meillossoux is that everything is contingent and might have been other than it is.

        But all of this leaves historical and present day (postmodern) anti-realists in the position of claiming that we cannot know anything beyond our experience at all, and it is this mistake that he aims to rectify. Despite his general acceptance of the Kantian starting point, he insists that the achievements of science over the last two centuries well demonstrate that we can discover (through an objectivity emerging from shared experience, the results of repeated observations and experiments) much that is true about the world of the past and the present even if such truth lacks the a priori assurance of mathematics.

        That problem comes down to why, if it is correct to reject the Principle of Sufficient Reason for the world apart from human experience, the world, that is the laws of physics, seem to be so stable? If the history of the universe comes out to its not-necessary "facticity", that it is the way it is merely by chance, why aren't the laws and regularities constantly changing rendering our ability to comprehend anything, even to be conscious at all, impossible? Kant's answer to Hume was that the stability is only the effect of the categories of our consciousness, and if the in-itself (Kant's noumenon) were not stable there couldn't be any consciousness in the first place. But Kant accepted the Principle of Sufficient Reason which Meillassoux rejects. Instead he points out than an unstable in-itself might appear stable for long periods (essentially an anthropic argument). Instability need not mean moment-by-moment instability.

        Meillassoux argument rests itself on our ability to "mathematize" our shared experience. That we can describe phenomena in-the-world in mathematical terms and discover not only that 2+2=4 (a priori) but also that E=mc^2 (a posteriori) speaks to us of the world's stability. But he never quite gets around to telling us how mathematics grounds the stability. Indeed I do not see how it can because if it did, that would render the world necessary.

        But there is a further problem here. If instability were really a quality of the in-itself and the universe was infinitely (or trillions of years) old, a few tens of billions of years of stability would not be problematic. But if he is right about the meaningfulness of scientific discoveries, then the universe is only 13.8 billion years old and yet the laws have been stable at least since the moment of nucleosynthisis a second or so after the big bang. That means the laws have been the same for 13.8 billion years minus 1 second! Extraordinary stability indeed!

        To sum up, a beautifully written book, well argued, a delight to read, with many insights into the relation between human experience (the for-us) and the antecedent (the for-itself) world. But it doesn't quite finish the job, something Meillassoux says he must let go of (for now I presume) at the end of the book. A fantastic example of how good philosophy is done even if, in my humble opinion of course, he begins from the wrong starting point and never quite finishes.
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        Patrik M'Chal
        5.0 out of 5 stars I'd give it a Heart if I could... Five Stars was the best I can do
        Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2019
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        I'd supplement this book with a little faith, given the worrisome and overwhelming chaos of my life. One should use it to awaken out of a dogmatic slumber, not succumb to the new dogma that the author's main thesis - that everything is unreasonable and chaotic - is true.

        This is my supplement:

        The Merciful Chaotic

        We know that everything that is not necessarily impossible is necessarily possible. The only fact that can render a thing impossible is its contradictory nature; if it is consistent, then it can be. This is provable. We know, however, that the consistency of the cosmos renders some things that are possible impossible unless there is an inexplicable and chaotic event that is not possibly caused by anything that currently exists. The omnipotence of energy, which is largely a product of desire and desperation, can make a new truth that is not explainable in terms of actual causality or as part of what came before. It is a form of creation out of nothing that is in accordance with no existing law; it holds itself to no authority but the authority of love. The mercy that every situation is escapable would not hold true if not for this submission of chaotic omnipotence to the love that binds it to desire, which is essentially the desire for an out more than anything else, as anyone who has been in a horrible situation can attest. Desperation, chaos, love, and desire; these are what generate the new when there seems to be no solution based on the current state of truth. These generate this new when we stop seeking in the finite and bind to the infinite that essentially bonds with us in an intangible sense.

        This is where love meets strength and creativity; this is where we find we can do something that breaks from character and habit so severely that the previous situation seems to have been a crucible; it is almost as if the forging of the new truth is intentional. We know the ‘everhow’ meets its nemesis at point of actuality’s lack. This is where it taps into the source of infinite potential – an actual potential that is the essence of infinity and unmistakably reminiscent of the eternity to come – and commits an act of creation that breaks entirely from what the situation contained within itself as possibilities given the governance of what it amounted to in terms of actual finite truth. And as we know, the truth can only be finite except where it unifies with a future that is necessarily eternal; it effectively transmutes into omnipotent freedom. True freedom – in a more liberating sense – comes from controlling this freedom; it is the future’s capacity to absolutely empower anything using the strength of remembrance and ‘savoir’. This omnipotence, which is the only explanation for how all possibilities are possible, not just those the situation makes allowances for, an omnipotence that is thusly necessary for there to be existence, a necessary existence that lacks all property, though paradoxically existing as a purely unquantifiable quality, results in unity of our true substance. It is pure empowerment. It is existence that is omnipotent only when it lacks all truth except for its substance and quality; it is a necessary aspect of all worlds and unintegrated into any situation except as what might answer prayers we feel almost foolish for harboring within enough to reveal to even ourselves.

        Since this is an absolute capacitation of the substance – an infinite substance – that is the essential truth of existence, we know that anything can happen. Where this substance meets agency is where desire, grounded in desperation, and chaos, grounded in love, resolve into consistency as truth of power. It is when you have nothing to lose and you are made of love – a fullness that lacks differentiation from pure substance – a love that is itself made of nothing but the future’s necessity, that you can break from all contexts. You can create a truth that resounds with mercy and gets the out necessary for survival and hope. A hope that can be justified through faith.
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        Iain Cameron
        5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
        Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2018
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        fine
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        Nicole des Bouvrie
        4.0 out of 5 stars Important book in contemporary thought
        Reviewed in Germany on February 14, 2016
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        A short yet very provocative book which outlines the present clash between idealism and realism - and tries to overcome it in a new and thought provoking way. I'm not sure I agree with it all, but definitely a book I will refer back to many times in the future.
        Very readable, although it probably helps if you already have a little of a background knowledge in philosophy. Yet he explains everything very simply, and his kind of dialogue between the different schools of thought as a kind of theatre play make it come alive for the reader. Very well done!
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        Arch Stanton
        5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
        Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2016
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        Superb!
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        ghostfinder
        1.0 out of 5 stars 誰もかれもこれを理解しやすいというが、私はかなり難儀した。まだわかったと言う自信はない
        Reviewed in Japan on July 3, 2020
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        　なぜ相関主義が正しいのか。いかなる主観によっても存在の絶対性に到達するからである。カントが間違っているのは、彼のいわゆるヌーメノンが未来の、あるいは想像上の視点をも巻き込む限り、神の視点でも到達不可能になってしまうからだ。つまりそれは宇宙の全体性（＝神）をもってしても存在に到達できないということで、最初から矛盾含みだから
        　その意味で、カント以降の哲学に対する批判はある程度その通り。しかし、その向こう側を探るのではなく、全く放棄してしまうことが唯一の対処法だと思われる
        　数学とは、特殊な言語活動であり、その意味で限りなく主観的な行為である。だから、客観の向こう側に達するために数学的手法に頼るのは本末転倒ではないか。この点で、科学が数学的記法に傾くことを誤解する向きが多いが、それは主観と客観を対立概念と間違って考えているからである。主観と客観は同じ方向に存在する（だからいかなる主観も存在の絶対性に到達可能なのだ）。純粋数学は純粋な言語活動であり、世界の形式を数学的に述べることは主観を突き詰める行為である。しかしメイヤスーの哲学は言語の暴走、全くのファンタジーではなかろうか
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        Mr H.
        2.0 out of 5 stars What you see is what you get. Transpolitics.
        Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2015
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        Tedious book for likewise people.
        One person found this helpful
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