Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology
Harman argues that objects exist and interact independently of human consciousness, that human consciousness is just one way that objects relate to other objects, and that it should not be privileged ontologically.
Graham Harman
Professor of Philosophy
Graham Harman is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. His work on the metaphysics of objects led to the development of object-oriented ontology. He is a central figure in the speculative realism trend in contemporary philosophy.
Key Takeaways
Core Claim
Consciousness is just one kind of object relation, not ontologically special or foundational.
How It Works
Objects interact through partial, indirect relations; consciousness is one such relation among many.
Distinguishing Idea
Objects withdraw from all encounters, including consciousness, which never accesses them fully.
Implications
Shifts philosophy’s focus away from mind or subjectivity to a flat ontology where all objects are equal.
Raises the Question
If no object can fully access another, how do meaningful relations—including conscious ones—occur at all?
Harman’s Object-Oriented Ontology
Philosopher Graham Harman’s “object-oriented ontology” takes consciousness as a complex, relational phenomenon, not a monolithic entity, and emphasizes the differentiated nature of consciousness, where intentionality (the “directedness” of consciousness) doesn't create a unified “global purée” but rather a nuanced network of relations between individual objects. Objects, including conscious entities, are seen as inherently relational, with their properties and traits being shaped by their interactions with other objects. Harman argues that objects exist and interact independently of human consciousness, that human consciousness is just one way that objects relate to other objects, and that it should not be privileged ontologically. “The human-world correlate is just one relation among many. It has no privileged ontological status” (Harman, 2009, 2018).
Withdrawal, Limits, and the Fourfold
In his metaphysics, all objects withdraw from each other; they can never fully encounter or exhaust one another's being. This includes consciousness: the human mind cannot fully grasp or exhaust the objects it thinks about. He says, “There is no more reason to think that human awareness is the model for all relations than to think that fire, cotton, or granite are” (Harman, 2002).
In Harman’s object-oriented ontology, every object has a fourfold structure: real object, sensual object, real qualities, and sensual qualities. Human consciousness engages with sensual objects and sensual qualities—the phenomenal or experiential aspects of things—not real objects and real qualities. He says, “The conscious perception of a hammer is not that hammer in itself, but a sensual object that has a certain profile” (Harman, 2011). This means that consciousness is a type of interaction among objects, not a special metaphysical category.
Being Before Access
According to Harman, because consciousness is not ontologically foundational, it should not be the starting point of philosophy. For him, being precedes access—the world exists independently of how we access it, and objects relate to each other beyond human awareness. He suggests that consciousness involves intentional relations, but these relations are always partial and never exhaust the object. Intentional objects (those we encounter in thought or experience) are real, but they are not the real objects in themselves, which remain veiled. He says, “The intentional object… is not the same as the real object. It is a caricature, a translation, a model that interacts with us but does not give us the thing itself” (Harman, 2011).
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