SPECULATIVE TENSIONS AROUND THE CONCEPT OF FLAT ONTOLOGY: MEILLASSOUX, HARMAN, DELANDA, AND BRYANT

In today’s world, defined by globalization, the crisis of liberal democracy, and the emergence of new forms of sovereignty, a profound transformation is taking place not only in political and economic structures but also in the very foundations of philosophical thought. This article examines the concept of “flat ontology,” which has become prominent in contemporary debates on overcoming anthropocentrism, through the perspectives of speculative realist thinkers Quentin Meillassoux, Graham Harman, Manuel DeLanda, and Levi R. Bryant. Flat ontology, with its central claim that all entities exist on the same ontological plane and that none should be granted ontological privilege, offers a significant alternative to the hierarchical understandings of being found in classical and modern philosophy. The study first outlines the historical origins and core principles of the concept, then compares how the four selected thinkers interpret it. The analysis is conducted through Meillassoux’s critique of correlationism, Harman’s withdrawn object theory, DeLanda’s assemblage theory, and Bryant’s notion of the democracy of objects. The conclusion argues that flat ontology must move beyond being merely an initial stance to become a more comprehensive methodological framework capable of addressing both human and nonhuman entities within a shared understanding, and in this regard, identifies DeLanda’s assemblage theory as the most successful of the four approaches.