Posthumanism
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Posthumanism or post-humanism (meaning "after humanism" or "over humanism") is a term with five definitions:
- Antihumanism: a term applied to a number of thinkers opposed to the project of philosophical anthropology.[citation needed]
- Cultural posthumanism: a cultural direction which strives to move beyond archaic concepts of "human nature" to develop ones which constantly adapt to contemporary technoscientific knowledge.[1]
- Philosophical posthumanism: a philosophical direction which is critical of the foundational assumptions of Renaissance humanism and its legacy.[citation needed]
- Transhumanism: an ideology and movement which seeks to develop and make available technologies that eliminate aging and greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities, in order to achieve a "posthuman future".[2]
- Posthuman condition: the deconstruction of the human condition by critical theorists.[3]
[edit] Culture theory
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Ihab Hassan, theorist in the academic study of literature, once stated:
| “ | Humanism may be coming to an end as humanism transforms itself into something one must helplessly call posthumanism.[4] | ” |
This view predates the currents of posthumanism which have developed over the late 20th century in somewhat diverse, but complementary, domains of thought and practice. For example, Hassan is a known scholar whose theoretical writings expressly address postmodernity in society.[citation needed] Theorists who both complement and contrast Hassan include Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Bruno Latour, N. Katherine Hayles, Peter Sloterdijk and Douglas Kellner. Among the theorists are philosophers, such as Robert Pepperell, who have written about a "posthuman condition", which is often substituted for the term "posthumanism".[1][3]
Posthumanism mainly differentiates from classical humanism in that it restores the stature that had been made of humanity to one of many natural species. According to this claim, humans have no inherent rights to destroy nature or set themselves above it in ethical considerations a priori. Human knowledge is also reduced to a less controlling position, previously seen as the defining aspect of the world. The limitations and fallibility of human intelligence are confessed, even though it does not imply abandoning the rational tradition of humanism.[citation needed]
Posthumanism is sometimes used as a synonym for an ideology of technology known as "transhumanism" because it affirms the possibility and desirability of achieving a "posthuman future", albeit in purely evolutionary terms. However, posthumanists in the humanities and the arts are critical of transhumanism, in part, because they argue that it incorporates and extends many of the values of Enlightenment humanism and classical liberalism, namely scientism:[5]
| “ | Altruism, mutualism, humanism are the soft and slimy virtues that underpin liberal capitalism. Humanism has always been integrated into discourses of exploitation: colonialism, imperialism, neoimperialism, democracy, and of course, American democratization.
One of the serious flaws in Transhumanism is the importation of liberal-human values to the biotechno enhancement of the human. Posthumanism has a much stronger critical edge attempting to develop through enactment new understandings of the self and other, essence, consciousness, intelligence, reason, agency, intimacy, life, embodiment, identity and the body.[5] |
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The Post-Humanist subject is a decentered construct realized through uniting radical contradictions. With the collapse of classical boundaries, corporeal identity is suspended and may be described as a category error. This fictional or factual error in turn serves as an impetus for the realization of transgressive possibilities. Any form of normative identity is re-encoded to stimulate the proliferation of un-idealized anatomies. The monstrous post-human may be understood as a generator for the production of real and imaginary monstrosity. Paradoxically, the anomalous identity increases the uniqueness and originality of the otherwise differentiated and predictable body. The unpredictable and uncertain body, which is concurrently ordered and subversive, becomes an essential part of individualization. The anomalous post-human subject may be understood as a vital signifier of that which is new, incalculable, different, protean, and disordered. The post-human physiology is also amorphous and reconfigurable due to its flexibility and capacity to be encrypted or encoded; resulting in an omnipotent and polymorphous existence. Posthuman monstrosity is therefore a digital or a somatic issue. It transcends and resists categorization, thereby sustaining the human craving for a true and bona fide 'identity'. Ras Steyn, Flesh Physix : 2010
[edit] Criticism
Some critics have argued that all forms of posthumanism have more in common than their respective proponents realise, and amount to intellectual pursuits that are disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Badmington, Neil (2000). Posthumanism (Readers in Cultural Criticism). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0333765389.
- ^ Bostrom, Nick (2005) (PDF). A history of transhumanist thought. http://www.nickbostrom.com/papers/history.pdf. Retrieved 2006-02-21.
- ^ a b Hayles, N. Katherine (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226321460.
- ^ Hassan, Ihab (1977). "Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Postmodern Culture?". in Michel Benamou, Charles Caramello. Performance in Postmodern Culture. Madison, Wisconsin: Coda Press. ISBN 0930956001.
- ^ a b Zaretsky, Adam (2005). Bioart in Question. http://www.ciac.ca/magazine/archives/no_23/en/entrevue.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
- ^ Winner, Langdon. "Resistance is Futile: The Posthuman Condition and Its Advocates". in Harold Bailie, Timothy Casey. Is Human Nature Obsolete?. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, October 2004: M.I.T. Press. pp. 385–411. ISBN 0-262-524287-7.
