Theory Of The Object Thomas Nail by Thomas Nail 9781474487955, 1474487955 instant download after payment.

• Tells the first history of Western science and technology focused on the agency and mobility of objects
• Argues that objects are metastable processes, not discrete things, unlike other theories that consider objects as passive and static
• Surveys many areas of contemporary thought including new materialism and speculative realism as well as quantum theory, category theory and chaos theory

Throughout the history of science and technology, objects have been understood in many ways but rarely have they been understood to play an active role in the production of knowledge. This has led to largely anthropocentric theories and histories of science, which treat nature as passive objects viewed by independent observers.

Thomas Nail approaches the theory of objects historically in order to tell a completely new story in which objects themselves are the true agents of scientific knowledge. They are processes, not things. It is the first history of science and technology, from prehistory to the present, to illuminate the agency, knowledge and mobility of objects.