Christopher Watkin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640577
- eISBN:
- 9780748671793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640577.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter introduces the reader to the arguments of Quentin Meillassoux’s The Divine Inexistence. Meillassoux seeks to establish the post-theological in terms of his ‘principle of factiality’, ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to the arguments of Quentin Meillassoux’s The Divine Inexistence. Meillassoux seeks to establish the post-theological in terms of his ‘principle of factiality’, according to which only contingency is necessary. There is, it follows, no actually existing necessary being, no ‘god’ in the traditional sense. With this foundation, Meillassoux seeks to ground the principle of non-contradiction and to argue for belief in god because he does not exist. Meillassoux’s position is compared both to Badiou’s and to Nancy’s, and it is defended against a number of possible objections before the author proposes two critiques of his own: Meillassoux’s position equivocates on the question of rationality and its appeal to hyperchaos risks undermining its own argument. The chapter ends with a three-way comparison between Badiou, Nancy and Meillassoux in terms of faith, axioms, demonstrations and intuitions.Less
This chapter introduces the reader to the arguments of Quentin Meillassoux’s The Divine Inexistence. Meillassoux seeks to establish the post-theological in terms of his ‘principle of factiality’, according to which only contingency is necessary. There is, it follows, no actually existing necessary being, no ‘god’ in the traditional sense. With this foundation, Meillassoux seeks to ground the principle of non-contradiction and to argue for belief in god because he does not exist. Meillassoux’s position is compared both to Badiou’s and to Nancy’s, and it is defended against a number of possible objections before the author proposes two critiques of his own: Meillassoux’s position equivocates on the question of rationality and its appeal to hyperchaos risks undermining its own argument. The chapter ends with a three-way comparison between Badiou, Nancy and Meillassoux in terms of faith, axioms, demonstrations and intuitions.
Gerry Canavan
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040665
- eISBN:
- 9780252099106
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040665.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter examines Octavia E. Butler's literary and cultural legacy. Aside from her novels, interviews, and essays, Butler has contributed to the flourishing of diversity in science fiction from ...
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This chapter examines Octavia E. Butler's literary and cultural legacy. Aside from her novels, interviews, and essays, Butler has contributed to the flourishing of diversity in science fiction from the 1990s onward. Her act of writing herself in transformed the science fiction genre in ways that are still being felt today. When she began her career she was one of only a handful of African American authors writing science fiction, and for the bulk of her career she was the only black woman anywhere earning her living doing so. But since her career began, the genre has been utterly transformed, and she has inspired many African and African American writers in the field, including Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due, Nisi Shawl, Nnedi Okorafor, and Sofi Samatar. This chapter concludes with a discussion of Butler's novella “A Necessary Being,” published in 2014 and part of Unexpected Stories along with the short story “Childfinder.”Less
This chapter examines Octavia E. Butler's literary and cultural legacy. Aside from her novels, interviews, and essays, Butler has contributed to the flourishing of diversity in science fiction from the 1990s onward. Her act of writing herself in transformed the science fiction genre in ways that are still being felt today. When she began her career she was one of only a handful of African American authors writing science fiction, and for the bulk of her career she was the only black woman anywhere earning her living doing so. But since her career began, the genre has been utterly transformed, and she has inspired many African and African American writers in the field, including Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due, Nisi Shawl, Nnedi Okorafor, and Sofi Samatar. This chapter concludes with a discussion of Butler's novella “A Necessary Being,” published in 2014 and part of Unexpected Stories along with the short story “Childfinder.”
