The ontological consequences of Copernicus: global being in the planetary world

Turnbull, N, 2006. The ontological consequences of Copernicus: global being in the planetary world. Theory Culture & Society, 23 (1), pp. 125-139. ISSN 0263-2764

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Abstract

This article argues that contemporary space exploration, in producing visual representations of the planetary Earth for terrestrial consumption, has engendered a shift in the way the Earth - as terra firma - is both experienced and conceived. The article goes on to suggest that this shift is a key, but still largely tacit presupposition, underlying contemporary discourses on globalization and cultural cosmopolitanization. However, a close reading of some of the texts that make up the canon of 20th-century European philosophy shows that this idea of a ‘deterritorialized’ planetary Earth challenges some basic presuppositions of that canon: especially its use of the pre-reflective experience of terra firma as a tropic site of intological and normative grounds. This article examines the way in which contemporary Western European philosophy - and intellectual culture generally - has responded to this challenge: and offers Deleuze and Guattari’s idea of the Earth as a ‘surface without territory’ as the most intellectually and ethically viable conception of the Earth in the age of ‘planetary deterritorialization’.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Theory Culture & Society
Creators:	Turnbull, N.
Publisher:	Sage
Date:	2006
Volume:	23
Number:	1
ISSN:	0263-2764
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1177/0263276406063232 DOI
Rights:	Copyright 2006 by Sage Publications. All rights reserved. No portion of the contents may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Arts and Humanities
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:48
Last Modified:	23 Aug 2016 09:12
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/18343

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