Clear all
Work #1213 · Late

Brutalism

Achille Mbembe
2020 (French), 2024 (English) · French
Political-philosophical essay · Postcolonial theory / Africana philosophy / Critical theory

Mbembe's 2020 study — brutalism as the late-modern political-philosophical form of capitalist-technological-extractivist governance

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Brutalism (Late)
Time · Extent Finite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Non-Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Variable
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Non-Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Community
Observer · Theological Method —
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Variable
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Variable
Information · Granularity Discrete

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

⧖

Time

Brutalism

The 2020 COVID-pandemic-and-aftermath moment; the late-modern global-historical setting.

✦

Space

Brutalism

The global setting of contemporary capitalism, technology, race, and climate.

◉

Matter

Brutalism

The embodied global community whose conditions the brutalist analysis addresses.

◎

Observer

Brutalism

Mbembe as proper-Africana-philosophical critical theorist.

⚡

Energy

Brutalism

The political-theoretical-philosophical energies of contemporary Africana-critical theory.

⧉

Information

Brutalism

The integral-critical-theoretical content of the analysis.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Brutalism

Brutalism has been variously assessed — defenders see major contemporary critical-philosophical synthesis, sceptics worry about the rhetorical and conceptual integration of multiple distinct political-historical phenomena under a single label.