The Ontic Principle: An outline for an object-oriented ontology

Levi R. Bryant

Abstract

The present article appeared originally in English in the book The Speculative Turn: Continental Materialism and Realism (Re.Press, 2011), co-edited by the author with Graham Harman and Nick Srnicek under the title The Ontic Principle: An outline for an object-oriented-ontology. The objective is to elucidate the principles of onticology or object-oriented-ontology, as the author calls his version of the North American philosopher, Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented-Philosophy. It is an attempt to construct a strong ontology that can explain objects understood beyond the subjective facet traditionally associated with this notion. To this end, the author proposes the Ontic Principle, the Principle of the In-human, and the Ontological Principle, as philosophical criteria for building this ontology. By reformulating Deleuze’s concept of difference, the author develops a flat ontology that enables a multiple analysis of objects and object arrangements.