Real Ecosystems (of) Thought

Abstract

Ecosystems (of) thought are real. As such ideas can be explored using the concepts operative in scientific ecology. Rather than treating the works of philosophers and theologians as if they were words from an oracle, one treats them as if their thought were an ecosystem. Among philosophical work there are populations that interact with one another (to name two dominant populations (of) thought, Being and Alterity) in a way that either creates a healthy ecosystem (of) thought, called biodiversity in ecology, or where a dominant species degrades the health of the ecosystem by spreading and destroying the niches allowed other populations. Laruelle’s non-philosophy claims that philosophy always creates a united dualism, or a dualism that is ultimately united in the form of a philosophical decision, but a philosophical work demands more than this simply unilateral duality in order to operate. There are other populations (of) thought that both support this dualism of dominant species and that populate the philosophical field as the dualism itself has needs that allow for the formation of niches within the ecosystem (of) thought. Thus there is no account in Heidegger of Being without a whole host of other populations (of) thought that in turn affect that account within the unified ecosystem (of) thought. Or, to use another example, there is no thought of God in Aquinas without other populations (of) thought such as causality and Roman Catholic Church doctrine.