Sartre'scritique of Dialectical Reasonand New Materialism

Bibliographic Data

ID4786447
AuthorsDaniel Sullivan (0000-0003-4389-4190), Dan Sullivan (0000-0002-5649-9627)
Year2021
Volume26
Issue6
Pages31-48
Publication date2021-11-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAngelaki (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0969-725X • E-ISSN: 1469-2899
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0969725x.2021.1988367
OpenAlexW3213582901
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

Sartre’s late work – the Critique of Dialectical Reason – attempted to develop a new theory of praxis emphasizing themes that anticipate new materialist and biopolitical turns in the humanities. Specifically, Sartre stressed: (1) the “agentic” qualities of matter, insofar as matter reacts to human activity and alters its course; (2) the unintended and accruing consequences of human activity in the material world; (3) the fact that capitalism involves human subjects in relations of passive exigency that make them machines; and (4) the ways in which the biological matter constituting a human subject is systematically altered through practical activities performed in a particular milieu. The present article overviews new materialism and discusses affinities and divergences with Sartre’s Critique. It then presents Sartre’s social theory of ensembles, or assemblages, of human actors. This exposition demonstrates the potential of his theory to contribute to contemporary biopolitical and post-structuralist ideas about revolutionary collective action

Action (physics · Capitalism · Critical theory · Dialectic · Dialectical materialism · Epistemology · Exposition (narrative · Historical materialism · Human condition · Marxist philosophy · Materialism · Non-human · Political science · Politics · Praxis · Sociology · Subject (documents · Philosophical and Theoretical Analysis · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Law · Philosophy

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