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2011 •
Theories of affect have become an increasingly popular tool with which to conceptualise and analyse subjectivity. Of particular interest to us in this article are expositions that have sought to bring to the forefront of analysis notions of excess and virtuality on the grounds that they bear fruit in relation to a potential politics of change. Although contemporary notions of virtuality and excess are highly attractive, they also bring us to one of the more unsettling features of affect theory: How is it possible to suitably analyse the realms of virtuality and excess due to their non-representational qualities? To begin to address this problem, we explore process-oriented theories of virtuality in relation to the Marxist process theory of Ernst Bloch, and draw on the recent protest movements against cuts to Higher Education funding as an example of what we term ‘affective hope’, a concept indebted to Bloch’s notion of educated hope
2016 •
This article makes a case for the relevance of Ernst Bloch's philosophy to thinking through the political consequences of contemporary “speculative materialist” theory. Quentin Meillassoux's speculative materialism offers a vision of the world in which a future of justice may be materially possible, but there is little or nothing human beings can practically do to bring it about. Meanwhile, according to Bloch's understanding of the concept, human beings are capable of bringing about a better future for all through practical political struggle. Comparing these two thinkers, I argue that the future of speculative materialism, both in the sense of the future such a theory imagines and in that of the future of the theory itself as a politically viable materialism, must engage with the heritage of Bloch's thought.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Ernst Bloch2023 •
Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) was a German philosopher and cultural critic who is mostly credited for renewing the interest in utopia and for mediating between the radical philosophy of emancipation, non-dogmatic religious thought, analysis of mass culture, and new aesthetic forms, notably those of Expressionism. His books, especially The Principle of Hope (1954-1959), contributed to a particular form of critical theory and, being written in a peculiar essayistic style, made him quite popular both in academic and non-academic circles. Bloch was an important voice among the intelligentsia of Weimar Germany and then, for a short period after the Second World war, the leading philosopher of the Eastern Germany. However, he quickly became a "deviator" for the Marxist ideologists. Beyond the Eastern bloc, he made a profound impact on utopian studies, theology, and aesthetics of the previous century, but also, generally, on political philosophy and critical theory. Bloch's leftist orientation and the optimistic account of hope made him a critic of existentialist thought, despite many genealogical and stylistic affinities to it. Basing on Hegel and Marx, but also drawing on many other intellectual traditions, Bloch sought to formulate the ontology and political philosophy for uncertain and open-ended world. This was reflected in his "utopian hermeneutics" seeking to uncover the unfinishedness, the "not yet" in any phenomenon of nature or culture; in his sensitivity to the immediacy of human existence (inspired, in part, by the phenomenological movement) and to the various forms of mass culture; and in his attempts to reformulate Marxism as an utopian project of humanization of nature/naturalization of humans. The experience of utopian non-identity is elevated to the level of the ontological principle: "S is not yet P", and the human quest for emancipation is grounded in the unfulfilled state of being itself.
Transstellar Journals
TRANSCENDING VICTORIAN CULTURAL IMAGE OF THE 'ANGEL OF THE HOUSE': JOURNEY TO SELF-ACCTUALISATION IN LOUISA MAY ALCOTT'S ROSE IN BLOOM2019 •
Journal of English and Applied Linguistics
Editors views on using who with nonhuman animals2024 •
PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY
BRONZE AND IRON AGES HOOKS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE KURA-ARAXES INTERFLUVE / ԿՈՒՐ-ԱՐԱՔՍՅԱՆ ՄԻՋԱԳԵՏՔԻ ԲՐՈՆԶ-ԵՐԿԱԹԵԴԱՐՅԱՆ ԿԵՌԵՐԸ2023 •
Thursday and Friday (22-23 August), 2:00-4:00pm
Patristic Sources in the Palamite Controversy, Oxford Patristics 20192014 •
2023 •
Proceedings of SPIE
Random walk based segmentation for the prostate on 3D transrectal ultrasound images2016 •