Theory of the Object / / Thomas Nail.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English
• VerfasserIn: Nail, Thomas,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.) :; 50 B/W illustrations

Describes a new, systematic process philosophy of science and technology focused on the agency and mobility of objectsTells the first history of Western science and technology focused on the agency and mobility of objectsArgues that objects are metastable processes, not discrete things, unlike other theories that consider objects as passive and staticSurveys many areas of contemporary thought including new materialism and speculative realism as well as quantum theory, category theory and chaos theoryThroughout the history of science and technology, objects have been understood in many ways but rarely have they been understood to play an active role in the production of knowledge. This has led to largely anthropocentric theories and histories of science, which treat nature as passive objects viewed by independent observers. Thomas Nail approaches the theory of objects historically in order to tell a completely new story in which objects themselves are the true agents of scientific knowledge. They are processes, not things. It is the first history of science and technology, from prehistory to the present, to illuminate the agency, knowledge and mobility of objects.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: A World of Objects -- Part I: The Kinetic Object -- Part II: A History of Objects -- Part III: The Contemporary Object -- Conclusion -- Index