Theory of the Object

Thomas Nail is Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Denver. He is the award-winning author of eight prestigious University Press books which cover a wide range of topics including migration, borders, technology, digital media, history, science, economics, contemporary politics and climate change. His current research focuses on the influence of mobility on society and the arts in the 21st century. His work has been translated into ten major languages and cited across more than 20 academic disciplines.His published books are Marx in Motion: A New Materialist Marxism (Oxford University Press, 2020), Lucretius II: An Ethics of Motion (Edinburgh University Press, 2020), Theory of the Image (Oxford University Press, 2019), Being and Motion (Oxford University Press, 2018), Lucretius I: An Ontology of Motion (Edinburgh University Press, 2018), Theory of the Border (Oxford University Press, 2016), The Figure of the Migrant (Stanford University Press, 2015) and Returning to Revolution: Deleuze, Guattari, and Zapatismo (Edinburgh University Press, 2012).He also writes for Aeon: Ideas and Culture, The Huffington Post, Quartz, Pacific Standard: The Science of Society, History News Network and Monthly Review.

Nail's view of the object can be characterized as "change is the only constant" (to quote those who have gone before). Nail (Univ. of Denver) sets out to convince readers that reality is not a stable essentialist subject/object dichotomy but rather a materialist process of kinetic historical progression. (...) That said, Nail's writing style is generally approachable, so even readers not drawn to academic philosophy of science might find this an interesting read.

• Introduction: A World of Objects Part I: The Kinetic Object1. The Flow of Matter 2. The Fold of Number 3. The Field of Knowledge Part II: A History of ObjectsI. The Ordinal Object4. The Centripetal Object 5. The Prehistoric Object II. The Cardinal Object6. The Centrifugal Object 7. The Ancient Object I 8. The Ancient Object IIIII. The Intensive Object 9. The Tensional Object 10. The Medieval Object I 11. The Medieval Object II IV. The Potential Object12. The Elastic Object 13. The Modern Object I 14. The Modern Object II Part III: The Contemporary ObjectThe Loop Object 15. The Pedetic Object 16. The Contemporary Object I: Quantum Theory 17. The Contemporary Object II: Category Theory 18. The Contemporary Object III: Chaos Theory ConclusionIndex