This book introduces the underlying ideas which have created the constellation of thought commonly referred to as Speculative Realism (SR). In a non-technical style Speculative Realism: An Epitome explores the thought of three contemporary philosophers: Quentin Meillassoux, Ray Brassier, and Iain Hamilton Grant. The book characterizes the milieu in which SR was born and charts how the tendencies of thought created from its birth have diverged into contemporary metaphysics. Readers will gain from the book an understanding how the evolving motion of concepts created by the brief life of SR continue to change speculative philosophy in the contemporary Continental philosophical landscape today.

Contents: Introduction | Chapter I: Dead on Arrival | Chapter II: Heirs of Kantian Finitude | Chapter III: After Finitude | Chapter IV: After Nature | Interview with Ray Brassier | Interview with Iain Hamilton Grant

About the author: Dr. Leon Niemoczynski is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. His research focuses mainly on the philosophy of nature, especially within the Continental philosophical tradition. He also maintains interests in a diverse range of topics including philosophical ecology, logic and metaphysics, German idealism, aesthetics, animal ethics, and the philosophy of religion. Philosophers most relevant to his current research include Plato, Hegel, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Deleuze, and Merleau-Ponty. Niemoczynski is the author of Speculative Naturalism (forthcoming 2018); as co-editor, Animal Experience: Consciousness and Emotions in the Natural World (Open Humanities Press, 2014) and A Philosophy of Sacred Nature: Prospects for Ecstatic Naturalism (Lexington Books, 2014); and Charles Sanders Peirce and a Religious Metaphysics of Nature (Lexington Books, 2011). He currently resides in the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern, Pennsylvania with his wife, Nalina.

Dr. Leon Niemoczynski is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. His research focuses mainly on the philosophy of nature, especially within the Continental philosophical tradition. He also maintains interests in a diverse range of topics including philosophical ecology, logic and metaphysics, German idealism, aesthetics, animal ethics, and the philosophy of religion. Philosophers most relevant to his current research include Plato, Hegel, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Deleuze, and Merleau-Ponty. Niemoczynski is the author of Speculative Naturalism (forthcoming 2018); as co-editor, Animal Experience: Consciousness and Emotions in the Natural World (Open Humanities Press, 2014) and A Philosophy of Sacred Nature: Prospects for Ecstatic Naturalism (Lexington Books, 2014); and Charles Sanders Peirce and a Religious Metaphysics of Nature (Lexington Books, 2011). He currently resides in the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern, Pennsylvania with his wife, Nalina.

Acknowledgments Introduction 0.1 An Epitome 0.2 From Mourning to Celebrating the Death of Speculative Realism 0.3 Varying Streams and Currents "after the Speculative Turn" 0.4 The New Metaphysics: A Scene Report 0.5 A General, Non-Technical Introduction Resources for Further Reading Notes Chapter I: Dead on Arrival 1.1 What Is Speculative Realism? 1.2 A Review of the Literature and a Short History of Speculative Realism 1.3 Why Discuss Speculative Realism? 1.4 Reading the Rites of Burial Resources for Further Reading Notes Chapter II: Heirs of Kantian Finitude 2.1 The Subject at Center 2.2 Metaphysics before Kant 2.3 Metaphysics after Kant 2.4 From Finitude to Perspectivalism and Anti-Realism Resources for Further Reading Notes Chapter III: After Finitude 3.1 Correlationism and the Goal of After Finitude 3.2 Strong and Weak Correlationism 3.3 Breaking with the Circle of Correlation: Facticity and Arche-Fossil 3.4 Mathematics Attaining the Unthought Resources for Further Reading Notes Chapter IV: After Nature 4.1 Speculative Nihilism/Transcendental Realism in Nihil Unbound 4.2 Speculative Idealism/Transcendental Materialism in Philosophies of Nature after Schelling 4.3 Conclusion Resources for Further Reading Notes Interview with Ray Brassier Interview with Iain Hamilton Grant Credits