Alien Phenomenology, or What It's Like to Be a Thing
Ian Bogost
Abstract
Humanity has sat at the center of philosophical thinking for too long. The recent advent of environmental philosophy and posthuman studies has widened our scope of inquiry to include ecosystems, animals, and artificial intelligence. Yet the vast majority of the stuff in our universe, and even in our lives, remains beyond serious philosophical concern. This book develops an object-oriented ontology that puts things at the center of being—a philosophy in which nothing exists any more or less than anything else, in which humans are elements but not the sole or even primary elements of philosophic ... More
Humanity has sat at the center of philosophical thinking for too long. The recent advent of environmental philosophy and posthuman studies has widened our scope of inquiry to include ecosystems, animals, and artificial intelligence. Yet the vast majority of the stuff in our universe, and even in our lives, remains beyond serious philosophical concern. This book develops an object-oriented ontology that puts things at the center of being—a philosophy in which nothing exists any more or less than anything else, in which humans are elements but not the sole or even primary elements of philosophical interest. And unlike experimental phenomenology or the philosophy of technology, this book’s alien phenomenology takes for granted that all beings interact with and perceive one another. This experience, however, withdraws from human comprehension and becomes accessible only through a speculative philosophy based on metaphor.
Keywords:
philosophical thinking,
environmental philosophy,
posthuman studies,
object-oriented ontology,
experimental phenomenology,
alien phenomenology
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780816678976 |
| Published to Minnesota Scholarship Online: August 2015 |
DOI:10.5749/minnesota/9780816678976.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Ian Bogost, author
Ian Bogost is Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in Media Studies and Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he also holds an appointment in the Scheller College of Business. Bogost is also Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC, an independentgame studio, and a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic.
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