Introduction

This Introduction presents an overview of the book, which assembles contributions from authors of two intellectual currents that have, so far, mostly developed at a safe distance: Critical Theory and New Materialism. Its intention is to cover new ground and survey the terrain between these two schools of thought by addressing their fundamental differences as well as their potential connections. At the center of this debate are some of the most pressing questions of contemporary philosophy and social theory – in particular, those concerning the status of long-standing and contested separations between matter and life, the biological and the symbolic, passivity and agency, affectivity and rationality. While, at first sight, critical theorists and new materialists may seem to adopt completely different stances with regard to these issues, recent developments in both traditions point to important convergences between them and hence prepare the ground for a more direct confrontation and cross-fertilization.