The Meanings of Matter. Problems and Perspectives of the New Materialism

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Abstract

Recently, social and political theory has demonstrated a renewed theoretical interest in matter and materiality. The “new materialism”, as it is sometimes called encompasses a plurality of different approaches and disciplinary perspectives, ranging from science and technology studies via feminist theory and political philosophy to geography. The new materialist scholarship shares the conviction that the “linguistic turn” or primarily textual accounts are insufficient for an adequate understanding of the complex and dynamic interplay of meaning and matter.
The paper critically engages with the ontological underpinnings and the political perspectives of the new materialism. It points to conceptual ambiguities and unresolved tensions in new materialist scholarship. and allows for a more materialist account of politics. The conceptual proposal of a ”government of things” aims at bringing together an analytics of government developed by Michel Foucault with insights from science and technology studies, especially actor network theory and feminist technoscience.

Author

• Thomas Lemke, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main