Information AboutPosthumanism |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT POSTHUMANISM | |
| continental philosophy | |
| critical theory | |
| humanism | |
| postmodernism | |
|
In Literary and Critical Theory , posthumanism or '''post-humanism''', meaning ''beyond humanism'', is a major European Continental Philosophy of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It strives to move beyond the ideas and images of the world of Renaissance Humanism to correspond more closely to the 21st Century 's concepts of Technoscientific knowledge. It 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 strong Rational tradition of Humanism .12 Ihab Hassan , Critic , Scholar , and Theorist in the academic study of Literature , once stated that "humanism may be coming to an end as humanism transforms itself into something one must helplessly call posthumanism" 3. This view predates the currents of posthumanism which have developed over the past twenty years in somewhat diverse, but complimentary, domains of thought and practice. For example, Ihab Hassan is a scholar of literature and a known Postmodernist whose theoretical writings expressly address Postmodernism in Society . In an entirely different field, that of Engineering and computer technology, Norbert Weiner , Mathematician who 1964, won the US National Medal of Sciences, is most noted for developing the field of Cybernetics , and which he wrote about in his book of the same title in 1948. The book ''Cybernetics'' inspired scientists in the late 1940s through today in considering Computer Technology as a means for extending Human capabilities. The field that is most influential in realizing posthumanism as a philosophical outlook is that of cybernetics. Albeit, the currents of posthumanism are due in large part to the stories of the authors of Science Fiction , including Cyberpunk fiction. Among these authors are Philip K. Dick , William Gibson , Bruce Sterling , and Damien Broderick , among others. Theorists who both compliment and contrast Ihab Hassan include Michel Foucault , Judith Butler , Anne Balsamo, N. Katherine Hayles , and Douglas Kellner . Among the theorists are philosophers who have written about a ''posthuman condition'' which is often substituted for the word posthumanism. Philosophers have developed currents of posthumanism, however varied. Philosopher Max More addresses Identity of the Posthuman and what it means to become posthuman in the seminal essay "On Becoming Posthuman" 4 and further in "Beyond the Machine", which looks at technology and posthuman Freedom . 5 Some philosophers, such as Shannon Bell , argue that posthumanism attempts to develop new understandings of the Self and Other , Essence , Consciousness , Intelligence , Reason , Agency , Intimacy , Life , Embodiment , Identity and the Body . 6 SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
|
|