The Spectral Dilemma and the Instauration of the Divine: Latour contra Meillassoux

Quentin Meillassoux has argued that lives irremediably ruined by injustice, suffering, and tragedy confront us with an irresolvable dilemma: either God exists to bring justice to the world (but such a God necessarily cannot be absolutely good), or God does not exist and true justice is an impossibil...

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Chi tiết về thư mục
Xuất bản năm:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/theoremes,
Tác giả chính: Norton, Michael
Định dạng: Article ou chapitre numérique
Ngôn ngữ:Anglais
Được phát hành: ThéoRèmes 2014
Những chủ đề:
Truy cập trực tuyến:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Miêu tả
Tóm tắt:Quentin Meillassoux has argued that lives irremediably ruined by injustice, suffering, and tragedy confront us with an irresolvable dilemma: either God exists to bring justice to the world (but such a God necessarily cannot be absolutely good), or God does not exist and true justice is an impossibility. He proposes to escape this dilemma by introducing the idea of a “virtual” God who does not exist now but who could unpredictably come into existence in the future. According to Meillassoux’s argument, such an event would entail a radical break with the world as we know it; at the same time, Meillassoux avows a thoroughgoing dismissal of any thought that relies on appeals to transcendence. This paper argues that Meillassoux’s notion of the inexistent God betrays his own commitment to immanence, and that Bruno Latour offers a more consistent and more constructive way of understanding the divine on immanent terms.