Meillassoux Dictionary

Peter Gratton is Professor of Philosophy at Columbia Southern University. He has published numerous articles in political, Continental, and intercultural philosophy and is the author of The State of Sovereignty: Lessons from the Political Fictions of Modernity (SUNY Press, 2012). Co-Editor of the influential interdisciplinary journal Society and Space (Environmental Planning D), executive board member of the International Association for Philosophy and Literature, and books editor of Derrida Today, Peter has also edited two works: Traversing the Imaginary (Northwestern University Press, 2007), co-edited with John Mannousakis, and Jean-Luc Nancy and Plural Thinking: Expositions of World, Politics, Art, and Sense (SUNY Press, 2012), co-edited with Marie-Eve Morin. Paul J. Ennis is a writer based in Dublin. He completed his PhD in Philosophy at University College Dublin in 2011. He is the author of Continental Realism (Zero Books, 2011) and the founding editor of the journal Speculations: Journal of Speculative Realism.

This dictionary is less a pure reference work and more a critical introduction to the complex thought of Quentin Meillassoux. Gratton (Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada) and Ennis (independent scholar) provide an excellent introduction, placing Meillassoux's philosophy within – but critically at odds with – the Continental tradition. The editors focus on his contributions to a 'speculative materialism' that can lead to a 'speculative ethics' (the focus of their introduction). The A–Z dictionary entries, written by noteworthy scholars in the specialty of speculative realism, are clear and concise, providing explanations of many of Meillassoux's most difficult terms, such as 'factiality' and 'arche-fossil,' as well as general concepts such as phenomenology or science. Each entry indicates where and how Meillassoux uses the term, frequently noting the critical responses to his usage by other scholars. Most entries fill at least a page, and many are as long as three pages, thereby providing substantial explanation of terms. There are also entries for influential figures in the philosopher's work, including Alain Badiou, Georg Cantor, Gilles Deleuze, and Immanuel Kant. The book serves as a worthwhile overview and analysis of Meillassoux, born in 1967 and already a rising figure in the field.

• Acknowledgements; Introduction: From a Speculative Materialism to a Speculative Ethics; Entries A-Z; Bibliography; Notes on Contributors