Theory of the World

Catalog description

What is the world? While there are many means by which one might respond to this question - for instance, in terms of sociology or of the natural sciences - the aim of this course is to adress the world as a philisophical and political concept. To proceed in this manner, which is often technically described as "politclal ontology", is to concieve the world as the way in which reality is conditioned - that is, organized, framed, defined or distributed. The world is a philosiphical concept in so far as it has to do with the way that we relate to reality; it is simultaneously a political concept in so far as it has to do with various ways in which reality organizaed. In this sense, the world marks the intersection between, and the inseparability of, a philosophical theorization of reality and a poltical critique of established conditions. This intersection will be given specificity through attention to the critical - theoretical lenses of marxism ("multitude theory"), queer theory ("the anti-social thesis"), and black studies ("afropessimism"). NYC, Spring