This commentary on James Ash’s ‘Flat Ontology and Geography’ makes three points. First, it notes the prominence of different versions of flat ontology in human geography and supports Ash’s attempt to make sense of how flat ontology thinking has impacted human geographical scholarship by working through a politically contested real-world case. Second, by framing Ash’s project as a ‘reality check’, the commentary engages in a critical assessment of what added value flat ontological approaches, Tristan Garcia’s thinking included, may have to offer to our understanding of the non-flat world of value, hierarchy and difference. Third, it locates a problematic gap between flat ontological imaginaries and the phenomenal world of importance and suggests that to avoid academic escapism, we need convincing ways to bridge this gap. To conclude, the commentary joins in Ash’s caution against the overemphasis of connectedness, emergence and contingency in much flat ontological thought.

中文翻译：

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平面本体可以给立法者带来什么？

这篇关于詹姆斯·阿什（James Ash）的“平面本体论与地理学”的评论提出了三点。首先，它指出了人类地理学中扁平本体的不同版本的重要性，并支持Ash通过尝试一个在政治上有争议的现实案例来试图理解扁平本体思想如何影响人类地理学的尝试。其次，通过将Ash的项目定为“现实检查”，评论对Tristan Garcia的思想所包括的增值平本体论方法进行了批判性评估，可能需要使我们对价值，等级等非平凡世界有所了解和差异。第三，它定位了扁平的本体论虚构与现象世界之间的问题鸿沟，并建议为了避免学术逃避现实，我们需要有说服力的方法来弥合这一鸿沟。最后，