Thomas Nail Livres

A guidebook to living in a world that's destined to die, through a new reading of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura

"We need a new way to think about the Earth. Instead of perceiving the Earth as a static object, subject, substance, or essence in isolation from the cosmos, we need a theory that takes into account Earth's constant motion. In Theory of the Earth, Thomas Nail articulates an original process-based geological theory of the Earth that not only ushers in a new philosophy of geology, but which also offers us important lessons for understanding the Anthropocene and our possible responses to climate change"--

More than at any other time in human history, we live in an age defined by movement and mobility; and yet, we lack a single contemporary ontology which takes this seriously as a starting point for philosophy. Being and Motion sets out to remedy this lacuna in contemporary thought by providing a historical ontology of our present: an ontology of movement.

"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." "Nail's view of the object can be characterized as "change is the only constant" (to quote those who have gone before). Nail (Univ. of Denver) sets out to convince readers that reality is not a stable essentialist subject/object dichotomy but rather a materialist process of kinetic historical progression. (...) That said, Nail's writing style is generally approachable, so even readers not drawn to academic philosophy of science might find this an interesting read."

Focusing on the significance of motion, this work presents a compelling argument that movement is the fundamental force shaping human and natural history. Thomas Nail explores the implications of movement across various historical periods and its impact on modern life, linking diverse fields of knowledge and revealing patterns that connect different scales of reality. This contemporary philosophy serves as a synthesis of years of influential thought, offering fresh insights into the role of motion in our understanding of the world.

Human suffering, the fear of death, war, poverty, ecological destruction and social inequality: Thomas Nail shows that Lucretius proposed an ethics of motion as simple and stunning solution to these ethical problems in his first-century BC didactic poem De Rerum Natura.

At a time when more people than ever are being constrained to move for political, economic, and environmental reasons, this book provides a new political theory of migration, one based on the social primacy of movement.

Thomas Nail argues convincingly and systematically that Lucretius was not an atomist, but a thinker of kinetic flux. In doing so, he completely overthrows the interpretive foundations of modern scientific materialism, whose philosophical origins lie in the atomic reading of Lucretius' immensely influential book 'De Rerum Natura'.

Thomas Nail traces an alternative history of ancient and modern thinkers from the Bronze Age to quantum physics who share a radically different understanding of the nature of matter and motion compared to the rest of the Euro-Western tradition.