On the quadrants of the thing-world relations: a critical revision of Hartmut Rosa’s resonance theory in terms of thing-world

Abstract The most valuable contribution of Hartmut Rosa’s social theory is the extension of the scope of Critical Theory from the individual world and the social world to the thing-world. However, Rosa’s analysis of the thing-world is somewhat insufficient. The present article provides an attempt to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tsuo-Yu Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2023-05-01
Series:The Journal of Chinese Sociology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-023-00191-8
Description
Summary:Abstract The most valuable contribution of Hartmut Rosa’s social theory is the extension of the scope of Critical Theory from the individual world and the social world to the thing-world. However, Rosa’s analysis of the thing-world is somewhat insufficient. The present article provides an attempt to apply new materialism to the thing-world to compensate for the missing elements of Rosa’s resonance theory. An examination and integration of two of the most representative theories of new materialism, namely agential realism and object-oriented ontology, yield four types (or quadrants) of thing-world relations based on intra-action or inter-action and on inclusion or exclusion: namely resonance, alienation, appropriation, and catastrophe. This quadrant can provide a clearer criterion for resonance in Rosa’s Critical Theory, and manifest that the problem in contemporary society we have to concern might exclusion instead of alienation.
ISSN:2198-2635