Cat Moir, Ernst Bloch’s Speculative Materialism: Ontology, Epistemology, Politics – hardback Brill 2019; paperback Haymarket, 2020

Discussion 14 December 2021, 5pm – details and registration here

Update: the stream of this discussion will be here

Cat Moir’s 2020 book Ernst Bloch’s Speculative Materialism: Ontology, Epistemology, Politics (Historical Materialism Books, Brill & Haymarket Books) situates Bloch’s philosophy in the context of historical and contemporary debates about utopianism, science, and the theoretical and practical tasks of Marxism. Bloch’s project of a speculative materialism was famously dismissed by Jürgen Habermas as naïve and outdated. By reconstructing it and bringing it into conversation with current work in new materialism and ecological Marxism, Moir demonstrates its relevance for illuminating questions of agency and the human-nature relation that concern us today.

This online roundtable discussion broadcast by Historical Materialism brings together respondents with a wide range of relevant expertise to discuss the issues raised by Moir’s book with the author. 

Cat Moir, University of Sydney

Helena Sheehan, Dublin City University

Dan Hartley, Durham University

Sebastian Truskolaski, University of Manchester

Thomas Telios, University of St. Gallen