Hysteresis

Since the 1780s, Western philosophy has been largely under the spell of Immanuel Kant’s transcendental philosophy. In this book, Maurizio Ferraris offers a number of important criticisms of Kant in a book of two parts, written 21 years apart. The first part of the book, 'Observation', originally published in 2001, lays the foundations of Ferraris' New Realism, foreshadowing the realist turn that has become characteristic of 21st century philosophy. The second part, 'Speculation', written in 2021, outlines a complete metaphysical theory of realism. What ties both parts of the book together is the notion of hysteresis, the ability of effects to survive even when their causes have ceased to exist. This notion is used in many fields, ranging from physics to sociology. The term 'hysteresis' allows Ferraris to unite under a single term both recording in the proper sense (something remains) and iteration (something repeats itself); both alteration (in repeating itself, something undergoes a change) and interruption (sooner or later everything will end in total stasis, the thermal death of the universe, which will mark the final victory of recording over everything and everyone). These are the key elements of the book, through which we can understand new realism and its comprehension of the world.

Key (lock) · Metaphysics · Proposition · Realism · Spell · Term (time) · Transcendental number · Humanities and Social Sciences · Marxism and Critical Theory · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Philosophy