Dark Ecology

Mini Book Review of Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence by Timothy Morton (2016) I became aware of Timothy Morton through his popular book Hyperobjects. Morton contributes a fascinating and useful concept. Hyperobjects are “entities of such vast temporal and spatial dimensions that they defeat traditional ideas about what a thing is in the first place.” Climate change is his main (and most popular) example. Dark Ecology makes many interesting, if scattered, uses of this hyperobject meta-concept. In the first section alone we get a hyperobject perspective on the concept Nature, on the concept of Species, on his concept of Agrilogistics, and a pretty convincing defense of the term “Anthropocene” in between cliff-note flourishes of ontology and epistemology. At a breakneck pace throughout Morton applies his signature gonzo-poetic philosophizing style to thinking “Future Coexistence”. The final section (The Third Thread) is a deeply insightful tour down through the psycho-emotional feels of ecological awareness. We fall through Guilt to Shame, and below Horror into that strange Joy… Its a wild read with at least one weird, loopy twist per page.

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