This books ushers in a new way of talking about social phenomena. It develops an ontology of social objects on the basis of the claim that registration or inscription--the leaving of a trace to be called up later--is what is most fundamental to them. In doing so, it systematically organizes concepts and theories that Ferraris's predecessors--most notably Derrida, in his project of a positive grammatology--left in an impressionistic state.

Ferraris begins by redefining ontology as a way of cataloguing the world. Before any epistemology can discuss the validity of scientific or...