Book
The Spirit of Matter
In 'The Spirit of Matter' Peter Pels discusses the meaning of objects that move people emotionally but whose existence is often denied by modern wishful thinking of ‘mind over matter’.
- Author
- Peter Pels
- Date
- 04 October 2023
- Links
- The Spirit of Matter
In our modern age, various objects hold deep meaning for people, whether it's historical artifacts, religious relics, intriguing photos, everyday items, or technology. These objects often touch our hearts and evoke powerful emotions, challenging the idea that the mind can always control everything. They show that a 'Spirit of Matter' haunts a Protestant Christian cultural heritage that places mind over matter and marginalizes excessive objects as the ‘fetishes’ of colonized or ‘primitive’ people. The Spirit of Matter shows that even our ‘digital revolution’ is haunted by the materials we need to produce its abstractions and argues that we put planet Earth at risk when we forget this.
Read more about The Spirit of Matter on the publisher website Berghahn.