Strange Bedfellows? Ontology, Normativity, Critical Realism, and Queer Theory
Critical Realism, History, and Philosophy in the Social Sciences
ISBN: 978-1-78756-604-0, eISBN: 978-1-78756-603-3
Publication date: 27 July 2018
Abstract
The relationship between ontology, realism, and normativity is complex and contentious. While naturalist and realist stances have tended to ground questions of normativity in ontology and accounts of human nature, critical theories have been critical of the relationship between ontological and normative projects. Queer theory in particular has been critical of ontological endeavors. Exploring the problem of normativity and ontology, this paper will make the case that the critical realist ontology of open systems and complex, contingent, conjunctural causation deeply resonates with queer theory, generating a queer ontology that both allows for and undermines ontological and normative projects.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment
Special thanks to Paige Sweet, Alison Assiter, Julian Go, Frédéric Vandenberghe, and Douglas Porpora for their feedback and support and also to my two anonymous reviewers for their extremely generous, comprehensive, and helpful reviews.
Citation
Rutzou, T. (2018), "Strange Bedfellows? Ontology, Normativity, Critical Realism, and Queer Theory", Critical Realism, History, and Philosophy in the Social Sciences (Political Power and Social Theory, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 119-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0198-871920180000034006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited