Is the World Flat? : A Study on Posthuman Materialisms in the Pandemic Era

Abstract

Unprecedented disasters have urged us to reconsider the relationships between man and matter, between man and nature. There seems no objection to the fact that the global spread of the pandemic and climate crisis derive from the capitalist way of life. Flat ontology is a posthumanist thesis that puts humans on the same plane as matter and nonhumans. This paper discusses the significance and limits of flat ontology that runs through posthuman materialisms including new materialisms and object-oriented ontology. The discussion starts with the humanist tradition of a deep mistrust of matter and the main tenets of flat ontology Latour, DeLanda, and Bryant have argued against it. Their theories, while different from one another, similarly insist on changing the world in terms of the ontological equality or symmetry of entities existing in the world. Analyzing those interrelated approaches critically intervenes in their arguments and examines if flat ontology may have complicit relationships with reality and contribute to the reterritorialization of capitalism. The politics of the posthuman projects to reorient materalism could be evaluated through this study.