Vitalism Now – A Problematic

Greco, Monica

doi:10.1177/0263276419848034

Cited by 28 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Here, vitalism renders (social) life something remarkably similar to connective ontology, a relational flux in a monist universe. Following a neo-vitalist revival in the early 2000s (Lash, 2005), vitalism is now once more a distinct sociological concern (Greco, 2021). Greco (2021, p. 49) notes: 'There is now explicit talk of a "vitalist turn", one that would supersede the "discursive" while encompassing the "affective" and the "ontological" (turns).'…”

Section: Vital Animationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ontological turn in the sociology of personal life: Tracing facet methodology’s connective ontology

Fletcher

2023

The Sociological Review

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The sociology of personal life (SPL) has been largely untouched by sociology’s ontological turn. A few scholars have attempted to retrofit SPL and new-materialist ideas, but these limited attempts have overlooked the potential for SPL to furnish its own definitive ontological contributions in dialogue with the wider turn. In response, I offer an SPL-centred ontology: the ‘connective ontology’ of facet methodology. Introduced in 2011, facet methodology was originally supported by ‘connective ontology’, briefly outlined in a preliminary text, but as facet methodology has gained popularity, connective ontology has not been explicitly discussed. I argue that, while never mentioned outright, Jennifer Mason’s 2018 Affinities is about connective ontology and therefore offers an extensive, albeit tantalisingly implicit, ontological thesis, which I attempt to develop. In my interpretation, the world is made up of fluctuating layerings of vitally animated connection units. This connective ontology resonates with contemporary new-materialist sensibilities, but is from and of SPL. It also speaks to broader theoretical traditions, offering provocations for ontologically-minded, live, post-humanist, vitalist and biosocial sociologies, especially regarding longstanding critiques of apoliticism.

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Section: Vital Animationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ontological turn in the sociology of personal life: Tracing facet methodology’s connective ontology

Fletcher

2023

The Sociological Review

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“…Diversas investigaciones recientes parecen dar cuenta de ello. No se trata sólo de asistir a un renovado interés por el vitalismo (Greco, 2021), desplegado a partir de un creciente interés por formas de vida no-humana como plantas (Wohlleben, 2020), hongos (Sheldrake, 2020) o microorganismos (Yong, 2016). Hoy en día, de forma explícita, se comienza a explorar de modo protagónico el vínculo entre vida no-humana y técnica (Parikka, 2010), llegando incluso a hablar de la emergencia de una "zootecnología" (Vehlken, 2013) o una "atmotécnica" (Wall, 2019).…”

Section: Conclusionesunclassified

Los ecos del superhombre: ciborgs, posthumanos y sujetos contemporáneos

González-García

Velásquez

2022

arbor

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El presente artículo sostiene la siguiente hipótesis: la inmensa mayoría de las conceptualizaciones teóricas con las que, a inicios del siglo XXI, se intenta dar cuenta de la subjetividad contemporánea son explícita o subrepticiamente reelaboraciones del concepto de superhombre. De ciborgs a posthumanos, pasando por una amplia y variada gama de sujetos contemporáneos, se puede apreciar que el concepto de Übermensch aporta las claves fundamentales con las cuales deconstruir el concepto de identidad fija que pone en juego el universalismo abstracto. Siguiendo la teorización de Nietzsche, estas nuevas posiciones teóricas proponen una forma particular y concreta de vida como alternativa a las dicotomías y trasmundos con que la metafísica construyó a los sujetos del pasado. Sin embargo, estas propuestas han pasado por alto algo fundamental. Para demostrarlo, proponemos una relectura de Nietzsche y de dichos conceptos con el objetivo de plantear una nueva manera de pensar sobre la vida.

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“…If, as we have noted, dialectics has tended to be associated with negativity, then affirmationism has increasingly become associated, if not conflated, with vitalist thought across the social sciences. If vitalism was, in its earliest conceptions by biologists, an argument for the specificity of biological life (Greco, 2020), in Geography (and the social sciences more broadly) it now signals an alternative intellectual trajectory: philosophies of becoming unrestricted by conventional DEKEYSER AND JELLIS | 319 demarcations between living organisms and material "nature." In short, vitalism is "a concern with Life, and the vital processes that compose it" (Anderson & Harrison, 2010, p. 12).…”

Section: Limit 1: Affirmationist Vitalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Besides affirmationism? On geography and negativity

Dekeyser

Jellis

2020

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This paper poses questions on the possibility of styles of working besides "affirmationism." The paper begins by defining negativity as a force or status of disunification, and traces how it remains closely associated with dialectics within Geography. The paper goes on to explore how the renunciation of dialectics has meant that negativity more generally has been rendered outside thought, with a concomitant uptake of an affirmationist ethos. Despite the promise of such work, there remains disquiet. What is omitted or elided in the uptake of affirmationism?Critiques, largely from outside the discipline, highlight how affirmationism privileges the lively and Life, novelty and experimentation, and the generous and generative in conjunction with a suspicion of negativity. We home in on and reflect on three ostensible limits of affirmationism: affirmationist vitalism, affirmationist politics, and affirmationist critique. We argue that renouncing dialectics does not entail, necessarily so, a concomitant abandonment of negativity. Indeed, we need to embrace attempts to think and act that elude, or dispense with, the propensity to affirm, making space for affects that are far from hopeful, for those becomings-otherwise that do not increase capacities to act, or for modes of critique that refuse; in other words, for that which is besides affirmationism or simply "unaffirmable." Crucially, however, we point towards the dangers of a simple (re)turn to negativity, preferring a steadfast refusal to settle these tensions.

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Vitalism Now – A Problematic

Cited by 28 publications

References 33 publications

An ontological turn in the sociology of personal life: Tracing facet methodology’s connective ontology

An ontological turn in the sociology of personal life: Tracing facet methodology’s connective ontology

Los ecos del superhombre: ciborgs, posthumanos y sujetos contemporáneos

Besides affirmationism? On geography and negativity

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