Journals / Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi / 2026 / Sayı: 25

Object-Oriented Ontology as a Model of Secular Occasionalism

Seküler Vesilecilik Modeli Olarak Nesne Yönelimli Ontoloji

Pages
338–352
Publication Date
2026-06-09
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

In this context, the study explains the structure of OOO through central concepts such as the autonomy of objects, causality, the conception of being, and ontological independence.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study examines Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO), developed by the American philosopher Graham Harman, as an original and contemporary philosophical approach that investigates the ontological status of objects independently of human beings, human perception, and relational determinations.
📊
Key Findings & Data:OOO argues that objects exist independently not only through human mediation but also as autonomous entities in their own right.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:In this context, the study explains the structure of OOO through central concepts such as the autonomy of objects, causality, the conception of being, and ontological independence.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Nesne Yönelimli Ontoloji · Dörtlü Nesne Teorisi · Metafor

Abstract

This study examines Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO), developed by the American philosopher Graham Harman, as an original and contemporary philosophical approach that investigates the ontological status of objects independently of human beings, human perception, and relational determinations. OOO argues that objects exist independently not only through human mediation but also as autonomous entities in their own right. At the center of this ontology lies “secular occasionalism,” or, in Harman’s original conceptualization, “vicarious causation,” which questions how causal interaction is possible within a framework where objects cannot directly access one another and where each object withdraws into its own inner reality. While developing this approach, Harman draws upon the classical theological tradition of occasionalism, yet reinterprets it within a secular context in order to propose an alternative to anthropocentric ontologies. This article aims to analyze Harman’s model of secular occasionalism in its conceptual, metaphysical, and ontological dimensions. In addition, the philosophical background of the theory, its fundamental assumptions, the points at which it diverges from classical occasionalism, and its function within OOO are discussed in detail. In this context, the study explains the structure of OOO through central concepts such as the autonomy of objects, causality, the conception of being, and ontological independence.

Özet

Bu çalışmada, Amerikalı filozof Graham Harman tarafından geliştirilen Nesne Yönelimli Ontoloji (NYO), nesnelerin insandan, insan algısından ve ilişkisel belirlenimlerden bağımsız ontolojik statüsünü inceleyen özgün ve çağdaş bir felsefi yaklaşım olarak ele alınmaktadır. NYO, nesnelerin yalnızca insanlar aracılığıyla değil, kendi özerk varlıkları olarak bağımsız biçimde var olduklarını savunur. Ontolojinin merkezinde yer alan “seküler vesilecilik” ya da Harman’ın özgün kavramsallaştırmasıyla “ikame/vekaleten nedensellik”, nesnelerin birbirlerine doğrudan erişiminin mümkün olmadığı ve her nesnenin kendi içsel gerçekliğine geri çekildiği bir çerçevede nedensel etkileşimin nasıl gerçekleşebileceğini sorgular. Harman, bu yaklaşımı geliştirirken klasik teolojik vesilecilik geleneğini referans almakta, ancak bunu seküler bir bağlamda yeniden yorumlayarak insan-merkezli ontolojilere alternatif bir model sunmaktadır. Makale, Harman’ın seküler vesilecilik modelini kavramsal, metafizik ve ontolojik boyutlarıyla incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Ayrıca, kuramın felsefi arka planı, temel varsayımları, klasik vesilecilikten ayrıldığı noktalar ve NYO içindeki işlevi detaylı biçimde ele alınmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, çalışma nesnelerin özerkliği, nedensellik, varlık anlayışı ve ontolojik bağımsızlık gibi temel kavramlar üzerinden NYO’nun yapısını açıklamaktadır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Aslan, R. (2026). Object-Oriented Ontology as a Model of Secular Occasionalism. Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi, Sayı: 25, 338–352. https://doi.org/10.55256/temasa.1930183

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (30)

  1. Castro, Ernesto. Postcontinental Realism: Ontology and Epistemology for the Twenty-First Century. 1. bs. Çevirenler: Natalia Baizan ve Manuel Antonio Castro Cordoba, Tübingen: Mohr Siebrek Ek, 2022.
  2. Cogburn, Jon ve Niki Young. “Revisiting the Notion of Vicarious Cause: Allure, Metaphor, and Realism in Object-Oriented Ontology,” Open Philosophy 7, sayı: 1 (2024): 290-304. https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2024-0047
  3. De Landa, Manuel ve Graham Harman. Gerçekçiliğin Yükselişi. 1. bs. Çevirenler: Hakan Yücefer ve Hakan Atay, İstanbul: Tellekt, 2024.
  4. Harman, Graham. “Asymmetrical Causation: Influence without Recompense,” Parallax 16, sayı: 1 (Şubat 2010): 96-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/13534640903478833
  5. . Bells and Whistles: More Speculative Realism. 1. bs. Washington: Zero Books, 2013.
  6. . Nesne Yönelimli Ontoloji Her Şeyin Yeni Bir Teorisi. 1. bs. Çeviren: Oğuz Karayemiş, İstanbul: Tellekt, 2020.
  7. . “On Vicarious Causation,” Collapse sayı: 2 (2007): 187-221.
  8. . Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics. 1. bs. Melbourne: Re.press, 2009.
  9. . Sanat ve Nesneler. 1. bs. Çeviren: Oğuz Karayemiş, İstanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları, 2022.
  10. . Speculative Realism: An Introduction. 1. bs. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018.
  11. . The Graham Harman Reader: Including Previously Unpublished Material. 1. bs. Winchester: Zero Books, 2023.
  12. . The Quadruple Object. 1. bs. Winchester: Zero Books, 2011.
  13. . “The Well-Wrought Broken Hammer: Object-Oriented Literary Criticism,” New Literary History 43, sayı: 2 (2012): 183-203.
  14. . “Time, Space, Essence, and Eidos: A New Theory of Causation,” Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy 6, sayı: 1 (Eylül 2010): 1.
  15. . Towards Speculative Realism Essays And Lectures. 1. bs. Winchester: Zero Books, 2010.
  16. . “Undermining, Overmining, and Duomining: A Critique” in ADD Metaphysics, Editör: Jenna Sutela. Helsinki: Aalto University Design Research Laboratory, 2013.
  17. . Waves and Stones: On the Ultimate Nature of Reality. 1. bs. London: Penguin UK, 2025.
  18. . “Zero-Person and The Psyche,” Faculty Book Chapters, 01 Ocak 2009, 253-82.
  19. Harman, Graham ve Christopher Witmore. Objects Untimely: Object-Oriented Philosophy and Archaeology. 1. bs. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2023.
  20. Latour, Bruno, Graham Harman ve Peter Erdélyi. The Prince and the Wolf: Latour and Harman at the LSE. 1. bs. Winchester: Zero Books, 2011.
  21. Meillassoux, Quentin. Sonluluğun Sonrası. 1. bs. Çeviren: Kağan Kahveci, İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2020.
  22. Moad, Omar Edward. “Al-Ghazali’s Occasionalism and the Natures of Creatures,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 58, sayı: 2 (Ekim 2005): 95-101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-005-1595-0
  23. Ortega y Gasset, José. Phenomenology and Art. New York: W. W. Norton&Company, 1975. http://archive.org/details/phenomenologyart00orte
  24. Shaviro, Steven. Universe of Things: On Speculative Realism. 1. bs. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
  25. Sparrow, Tom. The End of Phenomenology: Metaphysics and the New Realism. 1. bs. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
  26. Taxier, Eric. “Two Ambiguities in Object-Oriented Aesthetic Interpretation,” Open Philosophy 3, sayı: 1 (Ocak 2020): 599-610. https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0139
  27. Weir, Simon. “Living and Nonliving Occasionalism,” Open Philosophy 3, sayı: 1 (Ocak 2020): 147-60. https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0010
  28. Wilde, Niels. “Thinking things: Epistemology, ontology and metaphysics revisited” in After Speculative Realism, 1. bs., Editörler: Hilan Bensusan ve Charles William Johns, 65-84. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350410435.ch-3
  29. Young, Niki. “Object, Reduction, and Emergence: An Object-Oriented View,” Open Philosophy 4, sayı: 1 (Haziran 2021): 83-93. https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0159
  30. . “Only Two Peas in a Pod: on the Overcoming of Ontological Taxonomies,” Symposia Melitensia sayı: 17 (2021): 27-36.