Only two peas in a pod : on the overcoming of ontological taxonomies

Abstract

In his 2016 work entitled Dante鈥檚 Broken Hammer, Graham Harman first coins the term 鈥渙nto-taxonomy鈥�, and proclaims it to be the main nemesis of his 鈥渙bject- oriented鈥� approach to philosophy. The term has however rarely appeared in the absolute majority of his subsequent works, and has also been largely overlooked by thinkers broadly working within and around the field of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO). In this paper, I propose to make up for this relative neglect in two ways. Firstly, Harman鈥檚 critique of 鈥渙nto-taxonomy鈥� is analysed and situated in the context of other prominent critiques, such as those of Martin Heidegger鈥檚 assessment of 鈥淥nto-theology鈥� and Quentin Meillassoux鈥檚 assessment of 鈥渃orrelationism.鈥� Secondly, I shall show how what I believe to be the three fundamental tenets of Harman鈥檚 philosophical approach are derivable from his critique of 鈥渙nto-taxonomy.鈥�