Book Section
Christoph F. E. Holzhey
Emergence that Matters and Emergent Irrelevance
On the Political Use of Fundamental Physics
With reference to the mobilization of physics in new feminist materialisms, this chapter argues that the fundamental ontology of matter suggested by physics is of no political relevance. Instead, its position is that devising effective strategies to deactivate the normative power of fundamental ontologies remains politically relevant despite long-standing critiques of essentialism. The chapter proposes that physics can be helpful both for understanding its own irrelevance and for inspiring strategies of deactivation.
Keywords: new feminist materialisms; ontological turn; normativity; emergence; scale; thermodynamics; physics; matter; performativity (philosophy); Barad, Karen
| Title |
Emergence that Matters and Emergent Irrelevance
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| Subtitle |
On the Political Use of Fundamental Physics
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| Author(s) |
Christoph F. E. Holzhey
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
With reference to the mobilization of physics in new feminist materialisms, this chapter argues that the fundamental ontology of matter suggested by physics is of no political relevance. Instead, its position is that devising effective strategies to deactivate the normative power of fundamental ontologies remains politically relevant despite long-standing critiques of essentialism. The chapter proposes that physics can be helpful both for understanding its own irrelevance and for inspiring strategies of deactivation.
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| Is Part Of | |
| Place |
Berlin
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| Publisher |
ICI Berlin Press
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| Date |
2 March 2021
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| Subject |
new feminist materialisms
ontological turn
normativity
emergence
scale
thermodynamics
physics
matter
performativity (philosophy)
Barad, Karen
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| Rights |
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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| Language |
en-GB
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| page start |
253
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| page end |
268
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| Source |
Materialism and Politics, ed. by Bernardo Bianchi, Emilie Filion-Donato, Marlon Miguel, and Ayşe Yuva, Cultural Inquiry, 20 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2021), pp. 253–68
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Cite as:
Christoph F. E. Holzhey, ‘Emergence that Matters and Emergent Irrelevance: On the Political Use of Fundamental Physics’, in Materialism and Politics, ed. by Bernardo Bianchi, Emilie Filion-Donato, Marlon Miguel, and Ayşe Yuva, Cultural Inquiry, 20 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2021), pp. 253-68 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-20_14>