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An Evaluation of the Chen Jingyuan Case Based on Quentin Meillassoux’s Core Ideas in Speculative Realism

Quentin Meillassoux (1967-), a leading speculative realist, challenges post-Kantian philosophy’s “correlationism”—the notion that thought and being are inescapably intertwined, rendering the absolute inaccessible—in After Finitude (2006). His core ideas include “factiality”: the absolute contingency of being without reason or necessity, rejecting both dogmatic realism and fideist religion; the “arche-fossil” as evidence of a time before correlation (ancestrality); and speculation as a method to access the real through “absolute time” (diachronic, non-human scales). Meillassoux critiques “fideism” (fidelity to the correlated world) and advocates thought’s capacity for “hyper-chaos”—radical, lawless contingency—to affirm the absolute without anthropocentric limits. The Chen Jingyuan case—a doctoral scholar sentenced to 20 months for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (PRC Criminal Law Article 293) over Twitter forwards—through Meillassoux’s lens, exemplifies correlationist fideism: the judiciary’s “order” clings to a correlated human-world necessity, foreclosing factial contingency and speculative access to the absolute, trapping justice in ancestral denial.

1. Correlationism and Fideism: Judicial “Order” as Fideist Cling to Human-World Necessity

Meillassoux’s correlationism critiques philosophy’s confinement to thought-being relations, where the absolute (mind-independent reality) is dismissed as unknowable; fideism responds with religious or dogmatic fidelity to this limit.

The verdict embodies correlationist fideism: presuming “high education implies discernment” correlates Chen’s forwards (e.g., <100 retweets of Hayek critiques or the “Trump-kneeling Xi” cartoon) to a necessary “disruptive” world, fidelistically clinging to human-scaled “order” without absolute contingency. The closed-door trial enforces this fidelity: Chen’s prison letter—speculatively accessing the absolute through taxonomy (art/emotion/reason/fact) and avalanche theory’s non-necessary flux—is dismissed as “resistance,” as if contingency threatens the correlated necessity. Meillassoux would decry this as post-Kantian idolatry: the prosecutor’s unverified admission traces the fissure—evidentiary voids as absolute time’s diachronic indifference (zero causal “disorder”)—yet fideist closure (non-oral appeal) resacralizes the limit, denying speculation’s leap beyond human-world bonds.

2. Factiality and Hyper-Chaos: Evidentiary Voids as Contingent Ruptures in the Correlated Veil

Factiality asserts reality’s brute contingency—without reason why—hyper-chaos as lawless absolute time, demanding speculation to affirm the real against correlated illusions.

The “evidence chain” clings to correlated illusion: “disruption” as necessary causation, yet voids factial contingency—no why for selective enforcement (millions unpunished), prosecutor’s confession a hyper-chaotic swerve. Chen’s theory speculatively affirms this: avalanche non-linearity as contingent flux, rupturing the veil—absolute time indifferent to “order.” The 20-month sentence hyper-chaoically overreaches: without causal necessity, it exposes the real’s lawlessness. Meillassoux would see speculative potential: the case’s fissures demand factial leap—beyond correlated “justice,” to absolute contingency where inquiry roams free.

3. Ancestrality and Speculative Access: Suppressed Inquiry as Denial of Pre-Correlated Real

Ancestrality—evidence of time before correlation (e.g., cosmic fossils)—speculatively accesses the absolute, shattering human-world limits.

The verdict denies ancestrality: forwards as correlated “threats” veil pre-human real (digital flux’s indifferent time), Chen’s taxonomy speculatively ancestralizes “rumor” as non-necessary fossil. The non-oral appeal suppresses access: “upper-level instructions” correlate closure, yet voids ancestralize contingency—absolute time indifferent to 20 months’ fiat. Meillassoux would affirm the speculative: the dormant account as ancestral trace, fidelity to the real beyond correlation.

Conclusion: Meillassoux’s Lens on the Case—Correlated Fideism Fracturing Factial Contingency

From Quentin Meillassoux’s speculative realism, the Chen Jingyuan case is fideist closure: human-world necessity clings against hyper-chaotic voids, ancestral speculation denied in correlated stasis. As of October 25, 2025, no retrial or exoneration has occurred; Chen’s account remains dormant, its quiet a factial swerve. This case cautions: speculate the absolute—or perish in correlation. As Meillassoux unbound, “Factiality is the real”—may contingency yet factially free.