Complexity, Reality and Ontological Insecurity: On Mistakes and Navigational Skills


Published: Jun 30, 2024
Keywords:
ontology mistakes reality adaptive transformation uncertainty
Lucas Uribe-Lopera
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9810-4064
Sebastián González
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6271-0276
Abstract

This article explores the concept of reality and the transformation concerning the complex approach to the modes of existence based on the interrelation between diverse actants that make up our world. Considering recent ontological debates and critiques of modernity, the article argues for a shift away from ready-made suppositions about reality and the desire for simplified answers. We propose a radical idea of an actant interaction perspective grounded in Bruno Latour’s and Hartmut Rosa’s ideas of exploring an ontology embracing curiosity, imagination, and the importance of making mistakes as necessary attitudes in navigating the uncontrollable nature of reality. The article emphasizes the importance of embracing a sense of liberty when comprehending and interacting with the world. It encourages us to concentrate on the strengths and connections of living organisms.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Adorno, Theodor W. The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture. London: Routledge, 2001.
Allison, Henry E. Kant’s Transcendental Idealism: An Interpretation and Defense. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004.
Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution. London: Penguin Books, 1990.
Badiou, Alain. In Praise of Love. Translated by Peter Bush. London: Serpent’s Tail, 2012.
Bhaskar, Roy, and Tony Lawson. “Introduction: Basic texts and developments.” In Critical Realism: Essential Readings, edited by Margaret Archer, Roy Bhaskar, Andrew Collier, Tony Lawson, and Alan Norrie, 3-17. Oxford: Routledge, 1998.
Blumenberg, Hans. The Readability of the World. Translated by Robert Savage and David Roberts. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library, 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/book.99918.
Blumenberg, Hans. Work on Myth. Translated by Robert M. Wallece. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1985.
Brock, Stuart, and Edwin Mares. Realism and Anti-realism. Stocksfield: Acumen, 2007.
Burghartz, Joachim, ed. Ultra-thin Chips Technology and Applications. New York: Springer, 2010.
Calderón, Fernando, and Manuel Castells. The New Latin America. Translated by Ramsey McGlazer. Cambridge: Polity, 2020.
Christofferson, Michel Scott. “Foucault and New Philosophy: Why Foucault Endorsed André Glucksmann’s The Master Thinkers.” In Foucault and Neoliberalism, edited by Daniel Zamora and Michael C. Behrent, 6-23. Cambridge: Polity, 2015.
Crosby, Alfred W. The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society 1250-1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107050518.
Deleuze, Gilles. Difference and Repetition. Translated by Paul Patton. London: Continuum, 2001.
Deleuze, Gilles. Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza. Translated by Martin Joughin. New York: Zone Books, 1992.
Docherty, Iain, Greg Marsden, and Jillian Anable. “The Governance of Smart Mobility.” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 115 (2018): 114-125. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.09.012.
Eco, Umberto. Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition. Translated by Alastair McEwen. London: Secker & Warburg, 1999.
Egbekpalu, Purissima Emelda. “Aristotelian Concept of Happiness (Eudaimonia) and its Conative Role in Human Existence: A Critical Evaluation.” Conatus – Journal of Philosophy 6, no. 2 (2021): 75-86. doi: https://doi.org/10.12681/cjp.26924.
Ehrenberg, Alain. The Weariness of the Self. Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age. Montreal: McGill’s Queen’s University Press, 2010.
Elder-Vass, Dave. The Reality of Social Construction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139169202.
Facer, Keri. Learning Futures: Education, Technology and Social Change. London: Routledge, 2011. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203817308.
Ferrante, Elena. In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing. Translated by Ann Goldstein. Rome: Europa Editions, 2022.
Foucault, Michel. The Japan Lectures: A Transnational Critical Encounter. Translated by John Rajehman. London: Routledge, 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003303763.
Freud, Sigmund. “‘Formulations on the two principles of mental functioning’ (1911b).” In On Freud’s “Formulations of the Two Principles of Mental Functioning,” edited by Gabriela Legorreta and Lawrence J. Brown, 1-14. London: Routledge, 2016.
Han, Byung-Chul. The Burnout Society. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press, 2015.
Hardt, Michael. Gilles Deleuze. An Apprenticeship in Philosophy. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.
Harman, Graham. Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything. London: Pelican, 2018.
Harman, Graham. Prince of Networks. Bruno Latour and Metaphysics. Melbourne: Re.press, 2009.
Hawkins, Jeff. A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence. New York: Basic Books, 2021.
Jacquette, Dale. Ontology. Stocksfield: Acumen Publishing Ltd, 2002.
Jasanof, Alan. The Biological Mind: How Brain, Body and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are. New York: Basic Books, 2018.
Jung, Carl G. The Undiscovered Self. Translated by Richard Francis Garrington Hull. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958.
Key, K. H. L. “Phasmatodea (Stick-insects).” In The Insects of Australia: A Textbook for Students and Research Workers, edited by I. D. Naumann, P. B. Came, J. F. Lawrence, E. S. Nielsen, J. P. Spradbery, R. W. Taylor, M. J. Whitten, and M. J. Littlejohn, 394-404. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1991.
Latour, Bruno. After Lockdown: A Metamorphosis. Translated by Julie Rose. Cambridge: Polity, 2021.
Latour, Bruno. An Inquiry into Modes of Existence. An Anthropology of the Moderns. Translated by Catherine Porter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013
Latour, Bruno. The Pasteurization of France. Translated by Alan Sheridan and John Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
Law, John. After Method: Mess in Social Sciences Research. London: Routledge, 2004.
Levin, Michael, and Rafael Yuste. “Modular Cognition.” Aeon, March 8, 2022. https://aeon.co/essays/how-evolution-hacked-its-way-to-intelligence-from-the-bottom-up.
Lispector, Clarice. The Complete Stories. Translated by Katrina Dodson. New York: New Directions, 2015.
Lukács, Georg. History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics. Translated by Rodney Livingstone. Cambridge, ΜΑ: MIT Press, 1972.
Markič, Marko. “Conatus and Dasein: The Problem of an Existential Theory of Motivation.” Conatus – Journal of Philosophy 6, no. 2 (2021): 193-211. doi: https://doi.org/10.12681/cjp.26599.
Menčik, David. “Identity Theft: A Thought Experiment on the Fragility of Identity.” Conatus – Journal of Philosophy 5, no. 1 (2020): 71-83. doi: https://doi.org/10.12681/cjp.22283.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. The Visible and the Invisible. Translated by Alphonso Lingis. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1968.
Montero, Sebastián Alejandro González. Living in Transit: Youth, Nomads, and Reality: A Narrative Essay on Becoming and Education. Bogotá: Universidad de La Salle, Ediciones Unisalle, 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.19052/978-628-7510-84-5.
Nathan-Roberts, Dan, and David Schuste. “Looking Ahead: Human Factors in Sociotechnical Systems.” In Human Factors in Practice: Concepts and Applications, edited by Haydee M. Cuevas, Jonathan Velázquez, and Andrew R. Dattel, 139-145. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2016.
Peterson, Martin. An Introduction to Decision Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511800917.
Reason, James. Human Error. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062367.
Rehmann, Jan. “The Unfulfilled Promises of the Late Foucault and Foucauldian ‘Governmentality Studies.’” In Foucault and Neoliberalism, edited by Daniel Zamora and Michael C. Behrent, 134-158. Cambridge: Polity, 2016.
Rosa, Hartmut. Resonance: A Sociology of our Relationship to the World. Translated by James Wagner. Cambridge: Polity, 2019.
Rosa, Hartmut. The Uncontrollability of the World. Translated by James Wagner. Cambridge: Polity, 2020.
Schulz, Kathryn. Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. New York: HarperCollins, 2011.
Schulz, Kathryn. Lost and Found: A Memoir. New York: Random House, 2022.
Searle, John R. Mind: A Brief Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Sen, Amartya. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 2009. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjnrv7n.
Shohini, Ghose, and Barry C. Sanders. “Entanglement Dynamics in Chaotic Systems.” Physical Review 70, no. 6 (2004): 1-6.
Tilly, Charles, Ernesto Castañeda, and Lesley J. Wood. Social Movements, 1768-2018. London: Routledge, 2019.
Traverso, Enzo. Revolution: An Intellectual History. London: Verso, 2021.
Wohlleben, Peter. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World. Translated by Jane Billinghurst. Vancouver, BC: Greystone Books, 2016.
Young, Julian. Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.