Realism, Speculative Realism, and Transgressive Realism

Abstract

In this thesis, I discuss the issue of realism with regard to Quentin Meillassoux’s Speculative Realism and Lee Braver’s Transgressive Realism. I aim to find out whether and how these two continental realist projects legitimately resolve the issue.

In the first chapter, I outline the realism issue in detail, with historical and systematic analyses. In the systematic section, I propose two distinctions: realism as an ontological thesis (R _ont) and realism as an epistemological thesis (R epis). R _ont is the thesis that there is a reality existing independently of us, while R _epis is the thesis that we can access this reality. I conclude the systematic analysis with the claim that there is an enigmatic relation between R _ont and R _epis, in which the problem of realism has it source. In the historical analysis, I focus on René Descartes since his main philosophical project is one of the most important modern philosophical sources for continental realism. His project promises to legitimize R _ont and R _epis. However, I conclude that Descartes fails to justify this aim, and this failure is turned into a legacy, namely the Cartesian Legacy, having a profound effect on the question of realism in contemporary continental philosophy.

In the second chapter, Meillassoux promises to legitimize R _ont and R _epis in his speculative realist project. This project consists of two fundamental claims: 1) being is independent of thought (us) (R _ont) and 2) we can have access to being as it is independent of thought (R _epis). However, I argue that Meillassoux fails to fulfil his promise because his project collapses the border between R _ont and R epis by dissolving the former into the latter.

In the third chapter, I discuss Lee Braver’s Transgressive Realism and argue his project provides us with a meaningful realist stance that can successfully account for the enigmatic relation between R _ont and R _epis. I first outline his historical reading of transgressive realism, which consists of three steps, with each step correlated to a thinker: Kant, Hegel, and Kierkegaard. I then examine the Heideggerian form of Transgressive Realism. Finally, I compare Braver’s Transgressive Realism with Meillassoux’s Speculative Realism and I conclude that the former project is more effective than the latter project at solving the problem of realism.

Date of Award	2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Dundee
Supervisor	Tina Röck (Supervisor) & Frank Ruda (Supervisor)