Book Launch and Discussion: Ernst Bloch's Speculative Materialism

Join Historical Materialism and Haymarket Books for a discussion and book launch for 'Ernst Bloch's Speculative Materialism' by Cat Moir. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cat Moir’s 2020 book Ernst Bloch’s Speculative Materialism: Ontology, Epistemology, Politics (Historical Materialism Books, Brill & Haymarket Books) situates Bloch’s philosophy in the context of historical and contemporary debates about utopianism, science, and the theoretical and practical tasks of Marxism. Bloch’s project of a speculative materialism was famously dismissed by Jürgen Habermas as naïve and outdated. By reconstructing it and bringing it into conversation with current work in new materialism and ecological Marxism, Moir demonstrates its relevance for illuminating questions of agency and the human-nature relation that concern us today. This online roundtable discussion broadcast by Historical Materialism brings together respondents with a wide range of relevant expertise to discuss the issues raised by Moir’s book with the author. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daniel Hartley is Assistant Professor in World Literatures in English at Durham University. He is the author of The Politics of Style: Towards a Marxist Poetics (Brill: 2017) and has published widely on . Cat Moir is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Germanic Studies at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the history of critical theory, the politics of science, and intellectual history from below. She is the author of Ernst Bloch’s Speculative Materialism: Ontology, Epistemology, Politics, (Brill 2020). Helena Sheehan is Emeritus Professor at Dublin City University and a left activist. She is the author of books including Marxism and the Philosophy of Science, The Syriza Wave, and Navigating the Zeitgeist. Thomas Telios is Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in Philosophy at the University of St. Gallen. His research focuses on 19th and 20th century social and political philosophy, critical theory, and new materialisms. His publications include the monograph Das Subjekt als Gemeinwesen. Zur Konstitution kollektiver Handlungsfähigkeit (Nomos 2018) and recent co-edited volume on The Russian Revolution as Ideal and Practice (Palgrave Macmillan 2019). Sebastian Truskolaski is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in German Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester. His research interests centre on modern European thought from Kant to Derrida and the visual arts. His first book, Adorno and the Ban on Images, was published by Bloomsbury in 2021. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Order a copy of Ernst Bloch's Speculative Materialism: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1567-ernst-bloch-s-speculative-materialism --------------------------- This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and Historical Materialism. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work. ---------------------------------------------------- Twitter: @haymarketbooks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/haymarketbooks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haymarketbooks