Associate Professor of Philosophy 
 
Prof. Harman’s Philosophy Blog

Graham Harman is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, having come to Egypt from Chicago in 2000. He is the 2009 winner of the AUC Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award.

Dr. Harman works on metaphysics, the study of the ultimate nature of reality, which he pursues in the form of an object-oriented philosophy. Drawing on the writings of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Bruno Latour, Saul Kripke, G.W. von Leibniz, and the Islamic and French occasionalists, he tries to develop a model of vicarious rather than direct causation between objects.

He is a charter member of the London-based “Speculative Realism” movement, and spent Fall 2007 as Visiting Associate Professor of Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Open Humanities Press, where he co-edits the “New Metaphysics” series. Dr. Harman is a former Chicago sportswriter, an avid world traveler, and a sixth-generation native of Iowa.

Books 

• Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics. (re.press, forthcoming 2009)
• Heidegger Explained: From Phenomenon to Thing. (Open Court, 2007)
• Guerrilla Metaphysics: Phenomenology and the Carpentry of Things. (Open Court, 2005)
• Tool-Being: Heidegger and the Metaphysics of Objects. (Open Court, 2002)

Edited Volume  

• The Speculative Turn: Continental Realism. Levi Bryant, Nick Srnicek, & Graham Harman (eds.). (re.press, forthcoming 2009)

Book Chapters 

• “Realism Good. Materialism Bad.” in Continental Realism and Materialism, edited by Levi Bryant, Nick Srnicek, and Graham Harman. (Melbourne: re.press) [forthcoming]
• “War, Space, and Reversal: Paul Virilio’s Apocalypse” in After Hiroshima: Memory, Warfare, and the Ethics of Peace. Edited by E. Demonchonok. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press) [forthcoming]
• “Phenomenology and the Object,” in The Edinburgh Critical History of Philosophy, edited by Alberto Toscano. (Edinburgh: Univ. of Edinburgh Press) [forthcoming]
• "Heidegger and the Birth of Continental Realism,” in The Ontic Return: The Current Epochal Shift from Meaning to Being, edited by James Ford. (London: Palgrave Macmillan) [forthcoming]
• “On Interface: Nancy’s Weights and Masses,” for Thinking Plural: Expositions of Jean-Luc Nancy on the World, Art, and Sense.
• Edited by Peter Gratton and Marie-Eve Morin. (Albany, NY: SUNY Press) [forthcoming]
• “Zero-Person and the Psyche,” in Mind That Abides: Panpsychism in the New Millennium, edited by David Skrbina. (Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2009)
• “The McLuhans and Metaphysics,” in New Waves in Philosophy of Technology. Edited by Jan-Kyrre Berg Olsen, Evan Selinger, and Søren Riis. (London: Palgrave, 2009)
• "Bruno Latour and the Politics of Nature.” In Humanity at the Turning Point. Edited by Sonja Servomaa. (Helsinki: Renvall, 2006)
• “Heidegger on Objects and Things.” In Making Things Public. Edited by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005)
  

Journal Articles

• “Boredom and Clichés: From Heidegger to McLuhan,” in Zeitschrift für Soziologie. [forthcoming]
• “A Dispute with Brassier’s Nihil Unbound,” in Cosmos and History. [forthcoming]
• “Asymmetrical Causation: Influence Without Recompense,” in Parallax. [forthcoming]
• “Technology, Objects, and Things in Heidegger,” in Cambridge Journal of Economics. [forthcoming]
• “Dwelling with the Fourfold,” in Space and Culture. [forthcoming]
• “Zeroing in on Evocative Objects,” in Human Studies, Vol. 31 (2008).
• “The Volcanic Structure of Objects: Metaphysics After Heidegger,” in Sofia Philosophical Review, Vol. II, No. 1 (2008).
• “DeLanda’s Ontology: Assemblage and Realism,” in Continental Philosophy Review, 41:3, 2008
• “On the Horror of Phenomenology: Lovecraft and Husserl,” in Collapse IV, 2008.
• “A Festival of Anti-Realism: Braver’s History of Continental Thought.” In Philosophy Today, Summer 2008. (Vol. 52, no. 2)
• “The Tetrad and Phenomenology.” In Explorations in Media Ecology, 6 (3), 2007. [forthcoming]
• “Speculative Realism,” by Ray Brassier, Iain Hamilton Grant, Graham Harman, and Quentin Meillassoux. In Collapse III, 2007. Transcript of April 27, 2007 workshop. Goldsmiths College, University of London.
• “Aesthetics as First Philosophy: Levinas and the Non-Human,” in Naked Punch 09, Summer/Fall 2007.
• “On Vicarious Causation“ in Collapse II, 2007.
• “The Importance of Bruno Latour for Philosophy,” in Cultural Studies Review, March 2007. (Vol. 13, no. 1)
• “Quentin Meillassoux: A New French Philosopher,” in Philosophy Today. Spring 2007. (Vol. 51, no. 1)
• “Some Preconditions of Universal Philosophical Dialogue,” in Dialogue and Universalism (Vol. 01/02, 2005)
• “Naïve Idealism: A Response to Tim Hyde.” In Philosophy Today, Winter 2004. (Vol 48, no. 4)

Interviews

• “On the Horrors of Realism — Interview with Graham Harman,” with Tom Sparrow. Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 19. 2008.
• “Interview: Graham Harman — Weird Realism,” [in Dutch] with Brechtje Keulen, Mark Leegsma, and Jorinde Vroonhof. Translated from the English by the interviewers. In Cimedart, 38, #2. March/April 2008.
• “De object-gerichte filosofie van Graham Harman: Interview” [in Dutch], with Noortje Marres and Ruth Sonderegger. Translated from the English by Noortje Marres. Krisis 4/2007.

Unpublished Articles Archived on Speculative Heresy Blog

• “Intentional Objects for Non-Humans” (2008)
• “The Assemblage Theory of Society” (2008)
• “Space, Time, and Essence: An Object-Oriented Approach” (2008)
• “Plastic Surgery for the Monadology: Leibniz via Heidegger” (2008)
• “Physical Nature and the Paradox of Qualities” (2006)
• “The Metaphysics of Objects: Latour and His Aftermath” (2004)
• “Aesthetics as Cosmology” (2003)
• “The Revival of Metaphysics in Continental Philosophy” (2002)
• “Introducing Alphonso Lingis. DePaul University. May 19, 2000” (2000)
• “Object and Network: The Ferris Wheel” (1999)
• “Object-Oriented Philosophy” (1999)
• “Bruno Latour, King of Networks” (1999)
• “A Fresh Look at Zuhandenheit” (1998)
• “Alphonso Lingis on the Imperatives in Things” (1997)
• “The Theory of Objects in Heidegger and Whitehead” (1997)
• “Phenomenology and the Theory of Equipment” (1997)

Speaker as Subject of Conference

• “Tool-Being and Actor-Network Theory.” February 5, 2008. Conference entitled “The Harman Review: Bruno Latour and Empirical Metaphysics.” Information Systems Research Forum. Department of Management. London School of Economics. London, United Kingdom. (With responses from Bruno Latour, Lucas Introna, and Noortje Marres)

Keynote Speaker

• “Objects are the Root of All Philosophy.” September 2-4, 2009. Conference entitled “Objects — What Matters? Technology, Value and Social Change. Manchester, UK.
• “The Assemblage Theory of Society.” November 8, 2008. Deleuze2008: Deleuze in the Open. 2008 European Capital of Culture event. Stavanger, Norway.

 Invited Lectures Since 2005

• “Simondon vs. Hylomorphism.” June 20/21, 2009. 21st Century Materialism Conference. Zagreb, Croatia.
• “The Perils of Materialism.” April 24, 2009. Workshop on Speculative Materialism/Speculative Realism. University of the West of England. Bristol, United Kingdom.
• “Workshop on Object-Oriented Philosophy.” April 20, 2009. The Centre for Innovation, Technology, & Organization (CITO). University College Dublin, Ireland.
• “A New Theory of Substance.” April 17, 2009. The Centre for Innovation, Technology, & Organization (CITO). University College Dublin, Ireland.
• “Le Quadriparti chez Heidegger.” January 27, 2009. Ecole normale supérieure. Paris, France.
• “A New Theory of Causation.” January 26, 2009. The American University of Paris. Paris, France.
• “Forceful and Non-Forceful Images.” November 28, 2008. Conference entitled “Pleasure and Persuasion in Lens-Based Media.” Tate Britain Gallery. London, United Kingdom.
• “Assemblages and Emergence.” November 27, 2008. ANTHEM group. London School of Economics. London, United Kingdom.
• “Intentional Objects for Non-Humans.” Conference entitled Pour une approche non-anthropologique de la subjectivité.” November 18, 2008. Université de Toulouse le Mirail, France.
• “Weird Ontology.” February 13, 2008. University of the West of England. Bristol, United Kingdom.
• “The Causal Medium: McLuhan’s Fourfold Space.” February 7, 2008. Department of Geography. The Open University. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.
• “Actor-Network Metaphysics.” February 6, 2008. School of Management. University of Lancaster. Lancaster, United Kingdom.
• “The Greatness of McLuhan.” February 4, 2008. Department of Media Studies. University of Bournemouth. Bournemouth, United Kingdom.
• “The Origin of the Work of Art (atonal remix).” February 1, 2008. The Arts Institute at Bournemouth. Bournemouth, United Kingdom.
• “The Medium of Beings Is Itself a Being.” January 17, 2008. The Center for Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Science (CEPTES). University of Twente. Enschede, The Netherlands.
• “On Actors, Networks, and Plasma.” November 29, 2007. Information Systems Research Forum. Department of Management. London School of Economics. London, United Kingdom.
• “Space and Time: An Object-Oriented Approach.” November 23, 2007. Chrono-Topologies Seminar. School of Architecture. Technical University of Delft. The Netherlands.
• “A Non-Boring Realism.” November 6, 2007. The Master’s Seminar. Department of Philosophy. University of Amsterdam. The Netherlands.
• “Heidegger’s Geviert: Nonsense or Breakthrough?” October 29, 2007. Department of Philosophy. University of Amsterdam. The Netherlands.
• “Workshop: The Future of Empirical Metaphysics.” Conducted on June 24 and 25, 2007. Weeklong colloquium entitled “Exercises in Empirical Metaphysics.” Cerisy-la-salle, Normandy, France.
• “Reply to Brassier, Grant, and Meillassoux.” April 27, 2007. Workshop on Speculative Realism. Goldsmiths College, University of London. London, United Kingdom.”
• “More on Vicarious Causation.” April 25, 2007. Geography Department. The Open University. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.
• “On Objects.” April 23, 2007. The Architectural Association. London, United Kingdom.
• “Networks and Assemblages: Latour and DeLanda.” April 20, 2007. Centre for the Study of Invention and Social Process. Goldsmiths College, University of London. London, United Kingdom.
• “The Volcanic Structure of Objects.” April 22, 2005. Duquesne University. Pittsburgh PA.
• “Plastic Surgery for the Monadology.” April 21, 2005. Duquesne University. Pittsburgh PA.
• “Heidegger’s Thing and Beyond.” April 14, 2005. Middlesex University. London, United Kingdom.

 Audio Lectures

• “Recording of Graham Harman’s Talk on Manuel DeLanda.” London School of Economics.   November 27, 2008.
• “Recording of ‘The Harman Review: Bruno Latour’s Empirical Metaphysics.’” London School of Economics. February 5, 2008.
• "Recording of Graham Harman’s Talk at the Media School at Bournemouth University.” Bournemouth University, UK. February 4, 2008.
• “Recording of Graham Harman’s Lecture at AIB.” Arts Institute of Bournemouth, UK. February 1, 2008.
• “Recording of Graham Harman’s Talk on Heidegger and Latour.” London School of Economics. November 30, 2007.

Books Translated from the German

• A History of Palestine (co-translated with the author), by Gudrun Krämer. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2008)
• In Praise of the Whip, by Niklaus Largier. (New York: Zone Books, 2007)
• Heidegger, Language, and World-Disclosure, by Cristina Lafont. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000)

Journalism and Popular Culture

• “Easy Rider and the Life of Harleys.” In Harley-Davidson and Philosophy. Edited by Carolyn M. Gray, Kerri Mommer, Cindy Pineo, and Bernard Rollin. (Chicago: Open Court, 2006)
• “Were Baseball Players Better Role Models Then or Now? Now.” In Baseball and Philosophy. Edited by Eric Bronson. (Chicago: Open Court, 2004)
• “Return of the Reality Principle.” In al-Ahram Weekly. Cairo, Egypt. 11-17 December, 2003. Issue no. 668. 143 sports articles as Chicago writer for sportsextra.com, 1996-98.

Education

• Ph.D., with distinction. DePaul University, Chicago. 1999.
• M.A., The Pennsylvania State University. 1991.
• B.A., St. John's College, Annapolis. 1990.