Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning

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Traweek, Sharon: 1988 ,Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press. Heijnol, A. (2017). Ladders, trees, complexity, and other metaphors in evolutionary thinking. In A. Tsing, H. Swanson, E. Gans, & N. Bubandt (Eds.), Arts of living on damaged planet (pp. G87–103). University of Minnesota Press. Barad, K. (2017b). What flashes up: Theological-political-scientific fragments. In C. Keller & M.-J. Rubenstein (Eds.), Entangled worlds: Religion, science, and new materialisms (pp. 21–88). Fordham University Press. Harding, Sandra: 1990, ‘Feminism, Science, and the Anti-Enlightenment Critiques’, in Feminism/Postmodernism, ed. Linda J. Nicholson. NY: Routledge.

Barad, K. (2019). After the end of the world: Entangled nuclear colonialisms, matters of force, and the material force of justice. Theory & Event, 22(3), 524–550. Meeting each moment, being alive to the possibilities of becoming, is an ethical call, an invitation that is written into the very matter of all being and becoming. We need to meet the universe halfway, to take responsibility for the role that we play in the world's differential becoming." Murris, K. (2021b). The ‘missing peoples’ of critical posthumanism and new materialism. In K. Murris (Ed.), Navigating the postqualitative, new materialist and critical posthumanist terrain across disciplines: An introductory guide (pp. 62–85). Routledge.

Bohr, Niels: 1963c ,The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr, Vol. III: Essays 1958–1962 on Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge. Woodbridge, Conn: Ox Bow Press. Finally, agential realism emphasizes that constructed knowledges have real material consequences, which introduces the topics of accountability, responsibility, and ethics of knowing. Our discussion Barad, K. (2015). TransMaterialities: Trans*/matter/realities and queer political imaginings. GLQ, 21(2–3), 387–422.

Kondo, Dorinne: 1989 ,Crafting Selves: Power, Gender, and Discourses of Identity in a Japanese Workplace. Chicago: Chicago Univ. Press. Another issue that has brought interesting discussion is Barad’s notion of objectivity as reproducible and unambiguously communicable (in contrast to Newtonian objectivity indicating observer independence). TSElosophers wondered if even this conception of objectivity might not be suitable for social science. When the object of research are humans with their own subjective meaning-structures, the question of reproducibility becomes a difficult one. Developing on Heraclitus’s thought: “no man ever steps in the same river twice”, one can wonder if even with unambiguous communication the reproduction of social phenomena is impossible and hence objectivity is impossible to reach. The subjectivity of the researcher and the concepts seem to be underexplored in this paper, perhaps due to the fact that some of the starting points of paper are in physics. As a counterargument, TSElosophers emphasized that the significance of differences in the object of study should be questioned and included in the description of the boundaries. What are the consequences the differences in the reproducible object of study make? What matters? The objectivity here relates to the description one is making, to drawing the boundaries. Objectivity in terms of unambiguous communication and critical reflexivity is more important here than perfect reproducibility. Overall, TSElosophers really liked the ideas represented in this paper and could buy almost all the arguments for reconciling realism and social constructivism approaches. Participants particularly took notice of the pragmatic approach to science, the view that knowledge systems should be a reliable guide to action. Agential realism seems to underline the efficacy of science and establish the direction towards which the knowledge is created, taking into account the constructive nature and ethical issues of scientific activity. Bohr, Niels: 1949, ‘Discussion with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics’, in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, ed. P. A. Schilpp. Evanston: Northwestern U. Press.This will then open what Barad dubs agential realism through intra-active/tion diffractive thinking.

The majority of the discussion centered around the first point of Barad’s framework: agential realism grounds and situates knowledge claims in local experiences. Does the notion that knowledge is embodied and local impede theorizing? Some of the participants felt that agential realism has similar limitations in theorizing as ANT, while others emphasized that in agential realism theorizing happens in the detailed description of physical apparatus, as a description of the agentially positioned constructed cut between the object and the agencies of observation. One of the interesting points of agential realism is its emphasis on the agency of the material, as well as the interlinked agencies of the object and the observer. In addition, the locality of knowledge does not necessarily mean its spatial position, but relates to the constructed boundaries, so theorizing also happens in the boundary-making. Framing and focus matter, and they also have real-life implications. According to the third point of the framewor Tsing, A. L. (2015). The mushroom at the end of the world: On the possibility of life in capitalist ruins. Princeton University Press. Agential realism grounds and situates knowledge claims in local experiences: objectivity is literally embodied.

Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning

She doesn't take phenomenon to be as opposed to noumenon in the Kantian sense but opposed to objects in the subject-object distinction. While she puts scare quotes around "subject" and "object" distinction, these scare quotes are meant to present such terms in their generic specificity rather than their philosophical baggage. Objects don't exist out there. Rather than material construction determining how something exists directly, Barad's take is that discursive practice formulates an apparatus that entangles materiality to determine what exists "out there". While science is suspect to conception (theories), Barad want show that what's at stake in agential realism is that our conception of the entire situation doesn't simply highlight the terms of the concept but it also highlights the condition upon which we presume truth to be available. Murris, K., & Bozalek, V. (2019). Diffraction and response-able reading of texts: The relational ontologies of Barad and Deleuze. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 32(7), 872–886. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2019.1609122 Barad, K. (2012b). What is the measure of nothingness? Infinity, virtuality, justice/Was ist das Maß des Nichts? Unendlichkeit, Virtualität, Gerechtigkeit, dOCUMENTA (13): 100 Notes—100 Thoughts/100 Notizen—100 Gedanken | Book Nº099 (English & German edition, 2012). Inspired by the philosophy-physics of Niels Bohr, Karen Barad introduces the new notion of realism, which she calls agential realism. She positions herself in relation to scientific realist and feminist-constructivist approaches, and argues for inseparability of ontological and epistemological issues. Barad’s insightful reading of Bohr’s understanding of quantum physics preludes the introduction of the onto-epistemological framework of agential realism. By considering such broad philosophical issues as the role of natural and cultural factors in scientific knowledge production, conditions for objectivity and the efficacy of science, Barad proposes a framework that is widely applicable across disciplines. Haraway, Donna: 1991 ,Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women’s Lives. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.