The Current State of Speculative Realism

Elsewhere I have told the history of Speculative Realism, and will not repeat it here.1 Though some prefer the lower-case phrase “speculative realism,” I deliberately use capital letters, since Speculative Realism is a proper name. It originally referred to an assembly of four philosophers for an April 2007 workshop in London: Ray Brassier, Iain Hamilton Grant, Quentin Meillassoux, and the author of this article. So much for the history of the movement.Any discussion of Speculative Realism needs to begin by avoiding the intermittent and pointless debate over whether Speculative Realism “really exists.” This question comes five years too late to be meaningful, and generally takes the form of a put-down rather than a bona fide question. Speculative Realism is now the topic of a thriving book series at a major university press, and the subject of at least one forthcoming monograph.2 It is embedded in the editorial policy of several philosophy journals. It has become a terme d’art in architecture, archae-ology, geography, the visual arts, and even history. It has crossed national boundaries with ease, and is surely the central theme of discussion in the growing continental philosophy blogosphere. Speculative Re-alism is the topic of several postdoctoral fellowships offered in the United States this year. It has been the subject of semester-long classes at universities as well as graduate theses in Paris. Though there are still tough tests ahead concerning the breadth and durability of Speculative Realism, it has long since passed the “existence” test to a far greater degree than most of its critics.