Posthumanism

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This article is about a critique of anthropocentrism. For the futurist ideology and movement, see Transhumanism.

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Posthumanism or post-humanism (meaning "after humanism" or "beyond humanism") is an idea in continental philosophy and critical theory responding to the presence of anthropocentrism in 21st-century thought.<ref name="Ferrando 2013">Ferrando, Francesca (2013). "Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations" (PDF). Existenz. ISSN 1932-1066. Retrieved 2014-03-14.</ref> Posthumanization comprises "those processes by which a society comes to include members other than 'natural' biological human beings who, in one way or another, contribute to the structures, dynamics, or meaning of the society."<ref name="Gladden 2018 def">Gladden, Matthew (2018). Sapient Circuits and Digitalized Flesh: The Organization as Locus of Technological Posthumanization (PDF) (second ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Defragmenter Media. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-944373-21-4. Retrieved March 14, 2018. Elsewhere (p. 35) in the same text Gladden proposes a longer definition, stating that "The processes of posthumanization are those dynamics by which a society comes to include members other than 'natural' biological human beings who, in one way or another, contribute to the structures, activities, or meaning of the society. In this way, a society comes to incorporate a diverse range of intelligent human, non-human, and para-human social actors who seek to perceive, interpret, and influence their shared environment and who create knowledge and meaning through their networks and interactions."</ref>

It encompasses a wide variety of branches, including:

Philosophical posthumanism

Philosopher Theodore Schatzki suggests there are two varieties of posthumanism of the philosophical kind:<ref name="ref-schatzki">Schatzki, T.R. 2001. Introduction: Practice theory, in The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory eds. Theodore Schatzki, Karin Knorr Cetina & Eike Von Savigny. pp. 10-11</ref>

One, which he calls "objectivism", tries to counter the overemphasis of the subjective, or intersubjective, that pervades humanism, and emphasises the role of the nonhuman agents, whether they be animals and plants, or computers or other things, because "Humans and nonhumans, it [objectivism] proclaims, codetermine one another", and also claims "independence of (some) objects from human activity and conceptualization".<ref name="ref-schatzki"/>

A second posthumanist agenda is "the prioritization of practices over individuals (or individual subjects)", which, they say, constitute the individual.<ref name="ref-schatzki"/>

There may be a third kind of posthumanism, propounded by the philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd. Though he did not label it "posthumanism", he made an immanent critique of humanism, and then constructed a philosophy that presupposed neither humanist, nor scholastic, nor Greek thought but started with a different religious ground motive.<ref>"Ground Motives - the Dooyeweerd Pages".</ref> Dooyeweerd prioritized law and meaningfulness as that which enables humanity and all else to exist, behave, live, occur, etc. "Meaning is the being of all that has been created", Dooyeweerd wrote, "and the nature even of our selfhood".<ref name="dy-nc"> Dooyeweerd, H. (1955/1984). A new critique of theoretical thought (Vol. 1). Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada: Paideia Press. P. 4</ref> Both human and nonhuman alike function subject to a common law-side, which is diverse, composed of a number of distinct law-spheres or aspects.<ref>"'law-side'".</ref> The temporal being of both human and non-human is multi-aspectual; for example, both plants and humans are bodies, functioning in the biotic aspect, and both computers and humans function in the formative and lingual aspect, but humans function in the aesthetic, juridical, ethical and faith aspects too. The Dooyeweerdian version is able to incorporate and integrate both the objectivist version and the practices version, because it allows nonhuman agents their own subject-functioning in various aspects and places emphasis on aspectual functioning.<ref>"his radical notion of subject-object relations".</ref>

Emergence of philosophical posthumanism

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."<ref name="Hassan 1977">Hassan, Ihab (1977). "Prometheus as Performer: Toward a Postmodern Culture?". In Michel Benamou, Charles Caramello (ed.). Performance in Postmodern Culture. Madison, Wisconsin: Coda Press. ISBN 978-0-930956-00-4.</ref> This view predates most 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.<ref>Thiher, Allen (1990). "Postmodernism's Evolution as Seen by Ihab Hassan" (PDF). Contemporary Literature. 31 (2): 236–239. doi:10.2307/1208589. JSTOR 1208589. Retrieved December 19, 2020.</ref> Beyond postmodernist studies, posthumanism has been developed and deployed by various cultural theorists, often in reaction to problematic inherent assumptions within humanistic and enlightenment thought.<ref name=miah />

Theorists who both complement and contrast Hassan include Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, cyberneticists such as Gregory Bateson, Warren McCullouch, Norbert Wiener, Bruno Latour, Cary Wolfe, Elaine Graham, N. Katherine Hayles, Benjamin H. Bratton, Donna Haraway, Peter Sloterdijk, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Evan Thompson, Francisco Varela, Humberto Maturana, Timothy Morton, 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.<ref name="Badmington 2000"/><ref name="Hayles 1999"/>

Posthumanism differs from classical humanism by relegating humanity back to one of many natural species, thereby rejecting any claims founded on anthropocentric dominance.<ref name=wolfe>Wolfe, C. (2009). What is Posthumanism? University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, Minnesota.</ref> 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. Human rights exist on a spectrum with animal rights and posthuman rights.<ref>Evans, Woody (2015). "Posthuman Rights: Dimensions of Transhuman Worlds". Teknokultura. 12 (2). doi:10.5209/rev_TK.2015.v12.n2.49072.</ref> The limitations and fallibility of human intelligence are confessed, even though it does not imply abandoning the rational tradition of humanism.<ref>Addressed repeatedly, albeit differently, among scholars, e.g. Stefan Herbrechter, Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis (London: A&C Black, 2013), 126 and 196-97. ISBN 1780936907, 9781780936901</ref>

Proponents of a posthuman discourse, suggest that innovative advancements and emerging technologies have transcended the traditional model of the human, as proposed by Descartes among others associated with philosophy of the Enlightenment period.<ref>Badmington, Neil. "Posthumanism". Blackwell Reference Online. Retrieved 22 September 2015.</ref> Posthumanistic views were also found in the works of Shakespeare.<ref name="Herbrechter Callus Rossini Grech 2022 p. 708">Herbrechter, S.; Callus, I.; Rossini, M.; Grech, M.; de Bruin-Molé, M.; Müller, C.J. (2022). Palgrave Handbook of Critical Posthumanism. Springer International Publishing. p. 708. ISBN 978-3-031-04958-3. Retrieved 2023-03-20.</ref> In contrast to humanism, the discourse of posthumanism seeks to redefine the boundaries surrounding modern philosophical understanding of the human. Posthumanism represents an evolution of thought beyond that of the contemporary social boundaries and is predicated on the seeking of truth within a postmodern context. In so doing, it rejects previous attempts to establish "anthropological universals" that are imbued with anthropocentric assumptions.<ref name=wolfe /> Recently, critics have sought to describe the emergence of posthumanism as a critical moment in modernity, arguing for the origins of key posthuman ideas in modern fiction,<ref>"Genealogy". Critical Posthumanism Network. 2013-10-01. Retrieved 2019-07-30.</ref> in Nietzsche,<ref>Wallace, Jeff (December 2016). "Modern". The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Posthuman. pp. 41–53. doi:10.1017/9781316091227.007. ISBN 9781316091227. Retrieved 2019-07-30. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)</ref> or in a modernist response to the crisis of historicity.<ref>Borg, Ruben (2019-01-07). Fantasies of Self-Mourning: Modernism, the Posthuman and the Finite. Brill Rodopi. doi:10.1163/9789004390355. ISBN 9789004390355. S2CID 194194777.</ref>

Although Nietzsche's philosophy has been characterized as posthumanist,<ref>Posthumanism in the Age of Humanism: Mind, Matter, and the Life Sciences after Kant. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. 4 October 2018. ISBN 9781501335693.</ref><ref>The Routledge Handbook of Biopolitics. Routledge. 5 August 2016. ISBN 9781317044079.</ref><ref>Philosophical Posthumanism. Bloomsbury. 27 June 2019. ISBN 9781350059481.</ref> Foucault placed posthumanism within a context that differentiated humanism from Enlightenment thought. According to Foucault, the two existed in a state of tension: as humanism sought to establish norms while Enlightenment thought attempted to transcend all that is material, including the boundaries that are constructed by humanistic thought.<ref name=wolfe /> Drawing on the Enlightenment's challenges to the boundaries of humanism, posthumanism rejects the various assumptions of human dogmas (anthropological, political, scientific) and takes the next step by attempting to change the nature of thought about what it means to be human. This requires not only decentering the human in multiple discourses (evolutionary, ecological and technological) but also examining those discourses to uncover inherent humanistic, anthropocentric, normative notions of humanness and the concept of the human.

Contemporary posthuman discourse

Posthumanistic discourse aims to open up spaces to examine what it means to be human and critically question the concept of "the human" in light of current cultural and historical contexts.<ref name=miah /> In her book How We Became Posthuman, N. Katherine Hayles, writes about the struggle between different versions of the posthuman as it continually co-evolves alongside intelligent machines.<ref>Cecchetto, David (2013). Humanesis: Sound and Technological Posthumanism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.</ref> Such coevolution, according to some strands of the posthuman discourse, allows one to extend their subjective understandings of real experiences beyond the boundaries of embodied existence. According to Hayles's view of posthuman, often referred to as "technological posthumanism", visual perception and digital representations thus paradoxically become ever more salient. Even as one seeks to extend knowledge by deconstructing perceived boundaries, it is these same boundaries that make knowledge acquisition possible. The use of technology in a contemporary society is thought to complicate this relationship.<ref>Hayles, N. Katherine, 1943 (5 April 2017). Unthought : the power of the cognitive nonconscious. Chicago. ISBN 978-0-226-44774-2. OCLC 956775338.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)</ref>

Hayles discusses the translation of human bodies into information (as suggested by Hans Moravec) in order to illuminate how the boundaries of our embodied reality have been compromised in the current age and how narrow definitions of humanness no longer apply. Because of this, according to Hayles, posthumanism is characterized by a loss of subjectivity based on bodily boundaries.<ref name=miah /> This strand of posthumanism, including the changing notion of subjectivity and the disruption of ideas concerning what it means to be human, is often associated with Donna Haraway's concept of the cyborg.<ref name=miah /> However, Haraway has distanced herself from posthumanistic discourse due to other theorists' use of the term to promote utopian views of technological innovation to extend the human biological capacity<ref name=gane /> (even though these notions would more correctly fall into the realm of transhumanism<ref name=miah />).

While posthumanism is a broad and complex ideology, it has relevant implications today and for the future. It attempts to redefine social structures without inherently humanly or even biological origins, but rather in terms of social and psychological systems where consciousness and communication could potentially exist as unique disembodied entities. Questions subsequently emerge with respect to the current use and the future of technology in shaping human existence,<ref name=wolfe /> as do new concerns with regards to language, symbolism, subjectivity, phenomenology, ethics, justice and creativity.

Technological versus non-technological

Posthumanism can be divided into non-technological and technological forms.<ref name="Herbrechter 2013 two forms">Herbrechter, Stefan (2013). Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-7809-3690-1.After referring (p. 3) to "the current technology-centred discussion about the potential transformation of humans into something else (a process that might be called 'posthumanization')," Herbrechter offers an analysis of Lyotard's essay "A Postmodern Fable," in which Herbrechter concludes (p. 7) that "What Lyotard's sequel to Nietzsche's fable shows is that, on the one hand, there is no point in denying the ongoing technologization of the human species, and, on the other hand, that a purely technology-centred idea of posthumanization is not enough to escape the humanist paradigm."</ref><ref name="Gladden 2018">Gladden, Matthew (2018). Sapient Circuits and Digitalized Flesh: The Organization as Locus of Technological Posthumanization (PDF) (second ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Defragmenter Media. ISBN 978-1-944373-21-4. Retrieved March 14, 2018.</ref>

Non-technological posthumanism

While posthumanization has links with the scholarly methodologies of posthumanism, it is a distinct phenomenon. The rise of explicit posthumanism as a scholarly approach is relatively recent, occurring since the late 1970s;<ref name="Ferrando 2013"/><ref name="Herbrechter 2013" /> however, some of the processes of posthumanization that it studies are ancient. For example, the dynamics of non-technological posthumanization have existed historically in all societies in which animals were incorporated into families as household pets or in which ghosts, monsters, angels, or semidivine heroes were considered to play some role in the world.<ref name="Graham 2002">Graham, Elaine (2002). Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-8135-3058-X.</ref><ref name="Herbrechter 2013">Herbrechter, Stefan (2013). Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-7809-3690-1.</ref><ref name="Gladden 2018" />

Such non-technological posthumanization has been manifested not only in mythological and literary works but also in the construction of temples, cemeteries, zoos, or other physical structures that were considered to be inhabited or used by quasi- or para-human beings who were not natural, living, biological human beings but who nevertheless played some role within a given society,<ref name="Herbrechter 2013" /><ref name="Gladden 2018" /> to the extent that, according to philosopher Francesca Ferrando: "the notion of spirituality dramatically broadens our understanding of the posthuman, allowing us to investigate not only technical technologies (robotics, cybernetics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, among others), but also, technologies of existence."<ref Name="Ferrando 2016">Ferrando, Francesca (2016). "Humans Have Always Been Posthuman: A Spiritual Genealogy of the Posthuman". In Banerji, Debashish; et al. (eds.). Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures (1st ed.). New York: Springer. pp. 243–256. ISBN 9788132236375. Retrieved 2018-08-08.</ref>

Technological posthumanism

Some forms of technological posthumanization involve efforts to directly alter the social, psychological, or physical structures and behaviors of the human being through the development and application of technologies relating to genetic engineering or neurocybernetic augmentation; such forms of posthumanization are studied, e.g., by cyborg theory.<ref name="Gray 1995">The Cyborg Handbook (1995). Chris Hables Gray, editor. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415908498.</ref> Other forms of technological posthumanization indirectly "posthumanize" human society through the deployment of social robots or attempts to develop artificial general intelligences, sentient networks, or other entities that can collaborate and interact with human beings as members of posthumanized societies.

The dynamics of technological posthumanization have long been an important element of science fiction; genres such as cyberpunk take them as a central focus. In recent decades, technological posthumanization has also become the subject of increasing attention by scholars and policymakers. The expanding and accelerating forces of technological posthumanization have generated diverse and conflicting responses, with some researchers viewing the processes of posthumanization as opening the door to a more meaningful and advanced transhumanist future for humanity,<ref name="Moravec 1988">Moravec, Hans (1988). Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-57618-7.</ref><ref name="Kurzweil 2005">Kurzweil, Ray (2005). The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York, NY: Penguin. ISBN 9781101218884.</ref><ref name="Bostrom 2008">Bostrom, Nick (2008). "Why I Want to Be a Posthuman When I Grow Up" (PDF). In Gordijn, Bert; Chadwick, Ruth (eds.). Medical Enhancement and Posthumanity. Springer Netherlands. pp. 107–137. ISBN 978-1-4020-8851-3. Retrieved August 16, 2018.</ref> while other bioconservative critiques warn that such processes may lead to a fragmentation of human society, loss of meaning, and subjugation to the forces of technology.<ref name="Fukuyama 2002">Fukuyama, Francis (2002). Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN 9781861972972.</ref>

Common features

Processes of technological and non-technological posthumanization both tend to result in a partial "de-anthropocentrization" of human society, as its circle of membership is expanded to include other types of entities and the position of human beings is decentered. A common theme of posthumanist study is the way in which processes of posthumanization challenge or blur simple binaries, such as those of "human versus non-human", "natural versus artificial", "alive versus non-alive", and "biological versus mechanical".<ref name="Ferrando 2013 non-dualistic">Ferrando, Francesca (2013). "Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations." Existenz: An International Journal in Philosophy, Religion, Politics, and the Arts 8 (2): 26-32. ISSN 1932-1066. Ferrando notes (p. 27) that such challenging of binaries constitutes part of "the post-anthropocentric and post-dualistic approach of (philosophical, cultural, and critical) posthumanism."</ref><ref name="Herbrechter 2013" />

Relationship with transhumanism

Sociologist James Hughes comments that there is considerable confusion between the two terms.<ref name=":0">Ranisch, Robert (January 2014). "Post- and Transhumanism: An Introduction". Retrieved 25 August 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)</ref><ref>MacFarlane, James (2014-12-23). "Boundary Work: Post- and Transhumanism, Part I, James Michael MacFarlane". Retrieved 25 August 2016.</ref> In the introduction to their book on post- and transhumanism, Robert Ranisch and Stefan Sorgner address the source of this confusion, stating that posthumanism is often used as an umbrella term that includes both transhumanism and critical posthumanism.<ref name=":0" />

Although both subjects relate to the future of humanity, they differ in their view of anthropocentrism.<ref>Umbrello, Steven (2018-10-17). "Posthumanism". Con Texte. 2 (1): 28–32. doi:10.28984/ct.v2i1.279. ISSN 2561-4770.</ref> Pramod Nayar, author of Posthumanism, states that posthumanism has two main branches: ontological and critical.<ref name=":1">K., Nayar, Pramod (2013-10-28). Posthumanism. Cambridge. ISBN 9780745662404. OCLC 863676564.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)</ref> Ontological posthumanism is synonymous with transhumanism. The subject is regarded as "an intensification of humanism".<ref>Cary., Wolfe (2010). What is posthumanism?. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816666157. OCLC 351313274.</ref> Transhumanist thought suggests that humans are not post human yet, but that human enhancement, often through technological advancement and application, is the passage of becoming post human.<ref>Wolfe, Cary (2010). What is Posthumanism?. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816666140.</ref> Transhumanism retains humanism's focus on the Homo sapiens as the center of the world but also considers technology to be an integral aid to human progression. Critical posthumanism, however, is opposed to these views.<ref>Deretić, Irina; Sorgner, Stefan Lorenz, eds. (2016-01-01). From Humanism to Meta-, Post- and Transhumanism?. doi:10.3726/978-3-653-05483-5. ISBN 9783653967883. Retrieved 2020-10-08. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)</ref> Critical posthumanism "rejects both human exceptionalism (the idea that humans are unique creatures) and human instrumentalism (that humans have a right to control the natural world)".<ref name=":1" /> These contrasting views on the importance of human beings are the main distinctions between the two subjects.<ref>Umbrello, Steven; Lombard, Jessica (2018-12-14). "Silence of the Idols: Appropriating the Myth of Sisyphus for Posthumanist Discourses". Postmodern Openings. 9 (4): 98–121. doi:10.18662/po/47. hdl:2318/1686606. ISSN 2069-9387.</ref>

Transhumanism is also more ingrained in popular culture than critical posthumanism, especially in science fiction. The term is referred to by Pramod Nayar as "the pop posthumanism of cinema and pop culture".<ref name=":1" />

Criticism

Some critics have argued that all forms of posthumanism, including transhumanism, have more in common than their respective proponents realize.<ref name="Winner 2005">Winner, Langdon (2005). "Resistance is Futile: The Posthuman Condition and Its Advocates". In Harold Bailie, Timothy Casey (ed.). Is Human Nature Obsolete?. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, October 2004: M.I.T. Press. pp. 385–411. ISBN 978-0262524285.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)</ref> Linking these different approaches, Paul James suggests that 'the key political problem is that, in effect, the position allows the human as a category of being to flow down the plughole of history':

This is ontologically critical. Unlike the naming of 'postmodernism' where the 'post' does not infer the end of what it previously meant to be human (just the passing of the dominance of the modern) the posthumanists are playing a serious game where the human, in all its ontological variability, disappears in the name of saving something unspecified about us as merely a motley co-location of individuals and communities.<ref>James, Paul (2017). "Alternative Paradigms for Sustainability: Decentring the Human without Becoming Posthuman". In Karen Malone; Son Truong; Tonia Gray (eds.). Reimagining Sustainability in Precarious Times. Ashgate. p. 21.</ref>

However, some posthumanists in the humanities and the arts are critical of transhumanism (the brunt of James's criticism), in part, because they argue that it incorporates and extends many of the values of Enlightenment humanism and classical liberalism, namely scientism, according to performance philosopher Shannon Bell:<ref name="Zaretsky 2005">Zaretsky, Adam (2005). "Bioart in Question. Interview". Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 2007-01-28. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)</ref>

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While many modern leaders of thought are accepting of nature of ideologies described by posthumanism, some are more skeptical of the term. Haraway, the author of A Cyborg Manifesto, has outspokenly rejected the term, though acknowledges a philosophical alignment with posthumanism. Haraway opts instead for the term of companion species, referring to nonhuman entities with which humans coexist.<ref name=gane>Gane, Nicholas (2006). "When We Have Never Been Human, What Is to Be Done?: Interview with Donna Haraway". Theory, Culture & Society. 23 (7–8): 135–158. doi:10.1177/0263276406069228.</ref>

Questions of race, some argue, are suspiciously elided within the "turn" to posthumanism. Noting that the terms "post" and "human" are already loaded with racial meaning, critical theorist Zakiyyah Iman Jackson argues that the impulse to move "beyond" the human within posthumanism too often ignores "praxes of humanity and critiques produced by black people",<ref name="FOOTNOTEJackson2015216">Jackson 2015, p. 216.</ref> including Frantz Fanon, Aime Cesaire, Hortense Spillers and Fred Moten.<ref name="FOOTNOTEJackson2015216">Jackson 2015, p. 216.</ref> Interrogating the conceptual grounds in which such a mode of "beyond" is rendered legible and viable, Jackson argues that it is important to observe that "blackness conditions and constitutes the very nonhuman disruption and/or disruption" which posthumanists invite.<ref name="FOOTNOTEJackson2015216">Jackson 2015, p. 216.</ref> In other words, given that race in general and blackness in particular constitute the very terms through which human-nonhuman distinctions are made, for example in enduring legacies of scientific racism, a gesture toward a "beyond" actually "returns us to a Eurocentric transcendentalism long challenged".<ref name="FOOTNOTEJackson2015217">Jackson 2015, p. 217.</ref> Posthumanist scholarship, due to characteristic rhetorical techniques, is also frequently subject to the same critiques commonly made of postmodernist scholarship in the 1980s and 1990s.

See also

References

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Works cited

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