Form and Object can be grouped together with other works of speculative realism and object-oriented ontology by philosophers like Graham Harman and Manuel DeLanda. Garcia positions his work against "philosophies of access," which seek to theorize the limitations of subjective access to objective reality. Instead,Garcia proposes beginning to think about things before thinking about our conditions of access to those things. [7] The book is divided into two parts:Book 1,titled "Formally",and Book 2,titled "Objectively". The first book proposes an ontology of a flat world,in which all things are seen as being equally things,whereas the second book describes more specific objects,like animals,class,and gender. [8]
Graham Harman,in a review of the French edition of Form and Object,claimed that it is "an intricate piece of work by an emerging philosopher who is now a force to reckon with". [9]
Nathan Brown criticized Form and Object for maintaining a division between objects and their conditions;for Brown,Garcia claims to solve the problems of our conditions of knowledge by fiat:Garcia simply resolves "to treat objects and things objectively while treating conditions of objectivity as secondary". Contrary to Garcia,following Alfred North Whitehead and Ray Brassier,Brown maintains that these two problems can never be separated:"Speculative philosophy sets out from and returns to the crossroads of metaphysics and epistemology;it has to travel both roads at once." [10] Nonetheless,Brown argues that Garcia's work still deserves examination and attention. He claims that while Book I remains "conceptually fascinating",Book II becomes more problematic. [11] Brown adds that,overall,"Form and Object would be a more persuasive treatise if it included only Book I,reserving the topics in Book II for treatment elsewhere,in greater detail and with greater precision." [12] Ultimately,Brown concludes that "the originality and energy of Form and Object,and the lovely openness of the book's tone,make the differential,relational ontology it elaborates conceptually and affectively enticing." [13]
