Emergence that Matters and Emergent Irrelevance:On the Political Use of Fundamental Physics

Abstract

With reference to the mobilization of physics in new feminist materialisms, this chapter argues that the fundamental ontology of matter suggested by physics is of no political relevance. Instead, its position is that devising effective strategies to deactivate the normative power of fundamental ontologies remains politically relevant despite long-standing critiques of essentialism. The chapter proposes that physics can be helpful both for understanding its own irrelevance and for inspiring strategies of deactivation. ; Christoph F. E. Holzhey, 'Emergence that Matters and Emergent Irrelevance: On the Political Use of Fundamental Physics', in Materialism and Politics , ed. by Bernardo Bianchi, Emilie Filion-Donato, Marlon Miguel, and Ayşe Yuva, Cultural Inquiry, 20 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2021), pp. 253–68