# reza negarestani nakedly obscurantist charlatanism ![[220px-rezanegarestani.jpg|300]] nationality: iranian era: contemporary 'philosophy' region: western philosophy school: continental philosophy speculative realism (early) rationalism modern platonism institutions: board member of the new centre for research & practice main interests: philosophy of science philosophy of mind notable ideas: 'theory-fiction' 'philosophy of intelligence' website: https://toyphilosophy.com reza negarestani (born 1977) is an iranian philosopher and writer known for "pioneering the genre of 'theory-fiction' with ir book" cyclonopedia which was published in 2008. it was listed in artforum as one of the best books of 2009. negarestani directs the critical philosophy programme at the new centre for research & practice # philosophical work negarestani has been a regular contributor to collapse as well as other print and web publications such as ctheory. on march 11 2011 faculty from brooklyn college and the new school organised a symposium to discuss cyclonopedia titled leper creativity. later on in the year punctum books published a book with the same title that included essays articles artworks and documents from or related to the symposium. in 2011 ey co-edited collapse's issue vii with robin mackay titled "culinary materialism." in 2012 negarestani collaborated with florian hecker on an artwork titled "chimerisation" that was included in the documenta (13) exhibition. ey has since written librettos for a series of full-length albums based on hecker's concept of 'chimerisation' after being associated with the philosophical movement of speculative realism for several years negarestani has since lectured and written about rationalist universalism beginning with the evolution of the modern system of knowledge and advancing toward contemporary philosophies of rationalism ir procedures as well as ir demands for special forms of human conduct after going through different philosophical phases starting with nick land and subsequently speculative realism negarestani turned to rationalist inhumanism according to which the concept of the human is under-explored and is a matter of theoretical and practical investigation the results of which will lead to a thoroughgoing new conception of the human that stands in opposition to classical versions of humanism and human essentialism. research paradigms such as artificial general intelligence and neuroscience according to negarestani provide insights as how the concept of the human is underdeveloped and must be understood as a subject of critical construction. accordingly negarestani's philosophical project deals with what ey calls a philosophy of intelligence as in contrast to the philosophy of mind. for negarestani the philosophy of intelligence goes beyond the philosophy of mind insofar as the concept of intelligence is beholden to a system of socially constituted thoughts and practices through which the intelligible is recognised. however for negarestani the term intelligence remains a philosophically vague concept an explicandum. with a nod to rudolf carnap's project of explication negarestani instead proposes a conceptual engineering whereby the concept of intelligence is progressively replaced by its explicata or refined concepts which methodically address different issues with regard to the question of "what is intelligence." for negarestani such issues span ontological epistemological methodological technical and axiological concerns. negarestani's emphasis on the necessary link between what we mean by intelligence and what it takes to render the world intelligible borrows elements from transcendental philosophy german idealism and systematic skepticism negarestani's blog toy philosophy "focus on various threads - some still loose and some already converged - of philosophical research" # bibliography # # books **+** cyclonopedia: complicity with anonymous materials (re.press 2008) **+** (edited with robin mackay) collapse volume vii: culinary materialism (urbanomic 2012) **+** negarestani reza (2014.) torture concrete: jean-luc moulène and the protocol of abstraction. london: sequence press. 9-7-1 **+** negarestani reza (2018.) intelligence and spirit. london: urbanomic & sequence press. 4-0-3 **+** negarestani reza; mackay robin; tilford keith (2021.) chronosis. london: urbanomic. -54-8 **+** negarestani reza (2023.) abducting the outside: collected writings 2003-2018. london: urbanomic & sequence press. 4-8-9 // republic of bob