Speculative Empiricism - (Speculative Realism) by Didier Debaise (Paperback)

About the Book

Didier Debaise focuses in on Whitehead's attempt to construct a metaphysical system of everything in the universe that exists whilst simultaneously claiming that it can account for every element of our experience, giving us a radically new way of conceiving the relations between experience and speculation.

Book Synopsis

Can experience be thought systematically without transforming the richness of the world as it is lived into reductive philosophical generalities? Can the method of empiricism ever be reconciled with a method of systematic cosmological speculation?
Didier Debaise's reading of Process and Reality shows clearly what a philosophy that makes this possible looks like, how it works and what is at stake. He focuses in on Whitehead's attempt to construct a metaphysical system of everything in the universe that exists whilst simultaneously claiming that it can account for every element of our experience: everything enjoyed and perceived, willed or thought.
In this way, Debaise illustrates how Whitehead's philosophy gives us a radically new way of conceiving the relations between experience and speculation.

From the Back Cover

'In Speculative Empiricism, Didier Debaise expertly guides the reader on a remarkable voyage through Whitehead's metaphysical masterpiece, Process and Reality. The juxtaposition of the two title words sets the agenda, giving notice from the start that we will be heading into unexpected territory. Here, speculation will become a matter of experience, and experience, reciprocally, will be imbued with the futurity of potential. The result is a novel pragmatics of becoming which Debaise maps with unerring lucidity and precision, providing both an introduction to key Whiteheadian concepts and a major contribution to the scholarship that will be of equal interest to specialists.' Brian Massumi, University of Montreal A philosophy of speculative empiricism through a reading of Whitehead's Process and Reality Can experience be thought systematically without transforming the richness of the world as it is lived into reductive philosophical generalities? Can the method of empiricism ever be reconciled with a method of systematic cosmological speculation? Didier Debaise's reading of Whitehead shows clearly what a philosophy that makes this possible looks like, how it works and what is at stake. Debaise's reading focuses in on Whitehead's attempt to construct a metaphysical system of everything in the universe that exists whilst simultaneously claiming that it can account for every element of our experience, everything enjoyed and perceived, willed or thought. In this way Debaise illustrates how Whitehead's philosophy offers a radically new way of conceiving the relations between experience and speculation. Didier Debaise is a researcher at the FNRS and the Director of the Centre for Research in Philosophy at the Free University of Brussels. Tomas Weber is a PhD student in the Department of French at the University of Cambridge. Cover image: Shell, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, 1979 (c) The Barns-Graham Charitable Trust. Photo: Bruce Pert Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN [PPC] 978-1-4744-2304-5 ISBN [cover] 978-1-4744-2305-2 Barcode

Review Quotes

A reader in search of new approaches to metaphysics may easily end being surprised by this not-so-new, but ever creative-looking work of Whitehead, of the self-evidence it manages to produce as recommended by the philosopher himself, and of the attempt of reputed scholars to give him the prominent place in Western philosophy which he deserves!-- "Philosophia: International Journal of Philosophy"

In Speculative Empiricism, Didier Debaise expertly guides the reader on a remarkable voyage through Whitehead's metaphysical masterpiece, Process and Reality. The juxtaposition of the two title words sets the agenda, giving notice from the start that we will be heading into unexpected territory. Here, speculation will become a matter of experience, and experience, reciprocally, will be imbued with the futurity of potential. The result is a novel pragmatics of becoming which Debaise maps with unerring lucidity and precision, providing both an introduction to key Whiteheadian concepts and a major contribution to the scholarship that will be of equal interest to specialists.-- "Brian Massumi, University of Montreal"

About the Author

Didier Debaise is Director of the Centre for Research in Philosophy at the Free University of Brussels.

Tomas Weber is currently completing his PhD in the Department of French at the University of Cambridge, supervised by Dr Ian James.