New
Materialism

“Fear is the mind-killer, fear is the little-death...” (Herbert, 1965)

Departing from a position of fear leads to the desire to dominate and control. Fearful '-isms' insist on a single account of reality that is threatened by the suggestion of multiple interpretations or explanations. Fearful materialism believes in the existence of an objective Truth and claims privileged access to it through empirical science as the only valid way to know about the world. This Truth is more than a collection of empirical facts and measurements which have instrumental utility, for example that the melting point of water decreases with an increase of pressure. Facts are simple; 'true' and 'real' are entirely more complicated matters requiring semiotic construction. The construction of meanings is always a subjective process, subverting the most ardent attempts at an objective account of reality. Thus, monopolies on truth tend to be enforced by violence, attrition and internalized oppression. In the dialectics of authoritarian thinking, those who claim privileged access to truth are either tools for the authentication of power and legitimacy or a threat to it. When Richard Dawkins argues for militant atheism he is not radically challenging the hegemonic order, he is reinforcing it.

“Many scientists are infected, of course, as well as all those who accept their authority concerning what objectively exists. But those who would claim to be animists if they affirm that rocks “really” have souls or intentions, as we have, might be infected, too. It is the “really” that matters here, an emphasis that marks the polemical power associated with truth.” (Stengers, 2012: 5)

Dogmatic truths are vulnerable (fragile?), that is why heresy was invented. Fearful materialists are the descendants of the witch burners (Stengers, 2012). The ineffable powers of the feminine and of nature went from unchristian to merely irrational. As the patriarchal consolidation of power progressed, the spectacle of burning flesh was replaced by symbolic annihilation, they simply made magic unthinkable. This is done in the name of reason and progress. However, power always entails resistance—the contemporary neo-pagan Starhawk chants, “The smoke of the burned witches still hangs in our nostrils” (1982: 219). In 'Reclaiming Animism', Isabelle Stengers writes, “Learning to feel the smoke is to activate memory and imagination regarding the way we have learned the codes of our respective milieus: derisive remarks, knowing smiles, offhand judgments, often about somebody else, but gifted with the power to pervade and infect—to shape us as those who will be among those who sneer and not among those who are sneered at.” (2012: 6).

Derision becomes discredit and social alienation so we learn to censor our own thoughts. Fear in the driver seat again, suffocating our creativity.

SYNONYMS: monothetic realism, objectivist materialism
ANTONYMS: new materialism, vitalism, animism

REFERENCES:
Herbert, Frank (1965), Dune. New York City, NY: Chilton Publishing co.
Starhawk (1982). Dreaming the dark: Magic, sex and politics. Boston: Beacon Press.
Stengers, Isabelle (July, 2012). Reclaiming Animism. e-flux, #36. Retrieved on 6/16/17 from: https://www.e-flux.com/journal/36/61245/reclaiming-animism/