This theoretical paper applies the emerging perspectives of speculative realism and onto-cartography to the field of ESE in order to provide the opportunity to investigate how it is possible to problematize the subject-object based perspectives on materiality (Meillasoux 2008; Bryant 2014). The approach is an effort to delimit the often dominant perspectives drawing on discursive approaches to the issues within ESE. This perspective is an effort to understand e.g. environmental factors, disease, or nature as something real; something that doesn’t change just because we speak of it differently. We argue that everything as it is for us will always be both materiality and signifying agency because of the perceptional boundaries of reality: Just as we argue that materiality always influences educational thinking, or any other conception, signifying agencies cannot be completely circumvented. They are exactly what their name indicates: something that signifies, something that adds meaning. But they can be delimited, and their importance can be downplayed, by arguing that materiality functions as it does, no matter how it is signified. By working with three analytic distinctions (climate, environment, and bodies) we aim to focus on how materiality plays a part in our everyday lives in three distinct ways and how this relates to the field of ESE. The analysis draws on the concepts of correlationism, machines, and reality, and how these can help us to understand the role of materiality within ESE and ESE research (Bryant 2014; Meillasoux 2008). This effort is not an argument for the possibility of fully grasping the material effects on education. Instead we see the study as an explorative move into new uncharted theoretical waters with the aim of problematizing dominant uses of discourse theory and offer new perspectives on ESE and ESE research.

Bryant, L. (2014) Onto-Cartography – An Ontology of Media and Machines. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Meillassoux, Quentin. (2008) After Finitude. Continuum.