How might we respond to the climate crisis if we stopped thinking of matter as passive and began to see it as an active participant in shaping life? In her latest paper Rachel Armstrong proposes a new “mythos of matter” that challenges the mechanistic worldview inherited from industrial modernity. Instead, she presents Earth as a dynamic, living system whose creativity emerges from the entangled relationships between microbes, chemistry, geology and planetary processes.
Drawing on philosophy, evolutionary biology, chemistry and architecture, the paper develops the concept of “monstrous matter”—matter that resists simple categorisation, yet continually generates new forms of life through collaboration, adaptation and change. Rather than treating microbes merely as microscopic organisms, the article explores them as the metabolic foundations of the biosphere and as collaborators in future technologies. Through examples including Living Architecture, ALICE and Mi-Hy, it argues that microbial systems could inspire regenerative approaches to design, transforming homes and cities from places of consumption into living environments that recycle resources, generate energy and cultivate ecological relationships.
By bringing together philosophy, science and design, the paper invites readers to reconsider not only how we understand matter, but also how we might live with it differently. It offers a thought-provoking vision in which microbes are no longer viewed simply as tools or threats, but as partners in imagining more regenerative futures.
Read the full article here:
Armstrong R (2025) Monstrous Matter: The Microbial Foundations for a Living Planet. Philosophy and Society 36(4): 955–984. doi: 10.2298/FID2504955A
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