> [Dodge, Erick](dodge.md). "Overview of The Ontological Turn". MA Class Paper. > [pdf](dodge2020-ontological.pdf) ## Table of Contents ``` Introduction Summary Predeccesors The “Post-“ Movement and Phenomenology William James Implications …for the History of Religion …for Religious “Religious Studies” Scholars Bibliography ``` ## Introduction > The Ontological Turn (TOT) is a movement that began in the 90s to start considering ontology more than epistemology. Its members share the core desire to understand and—as the often say—“take seriously" the Other. From what I have been able to gather there are essentially: two kinds of Others that TOT has addressed (the non-human and the non-western); two disciplines it has drawn from (Philosophy and Anthropology); and finally two forms of the movement's seriousness (what I will call "hard" and "soft", the first is a metaphysics the later a method). Often these things are mixed. For example, Holbraad's original Anthropological work in 2007 asked "hard" ontological questions about non-western and non-human objects. In 2017 Holbraad took a more "soft" position and also considered western Christians. Over the next few pages I will do my best to lay out a summary of: the movement, Holbraad's place in it, its predecessors in our readings (Phenomenology and William James), and finally its implications for the discipline.