Thinking the earth: Critical reflections on Quentin Meillassoux's and Heidegger's concept of the earth

Vincent Blok*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlePopular

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Quentin Meillassoux's call for realism is a call for a new interest in the Earth as un-correlated being in philosophy. Unlike Meillassoux, Martin Heidegger has not been criticized for being a correlationist. To the contrary, his concept of the Earth has to be understood as un-correlated being, as it is opposed to the world as correlated being. First, this interpretation of Heidegger's concept of the Earth solves various problems of interpretation that are present in the secondary literature. Second, Heidegger's characterization of the Earth in the end remains unthought in his work. Third, in the age of global warming Meillassoux's call for realism can help to conceive planet Earth as the ontic-ontological origin of the Heideggerian strife between Earth and world.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)441-462
Number of pages22
JournalEnvironmental Ethics
Volume38
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2016
Externally publishedYes

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