What Is Posthumanism?

What does it mean to think beyond humanism? Is it possible to craft a modeof philosophy ethics and interpretation that rejects the classic humanistdivisions of ... » 

What does it mean to think beyond humanism? Is it possible to craft a modeof philosophy ethics and interpretation that rejects the classic humanistdivisions of self and other mind and body society and nature human andanimal organic and technological? Can a new kind of humanitiesposthumanitiesrespond to the redefinition of humanitys place in the world by both thetechnological and the biological or green continuum in which the human isbut one life form among many? Exploring how both critical thought along withcultural practice have reacted to this radical repositioning Cary Wolfeone ofthe founding figures in the field of animal studies and posthumanist theoryranges across bioethics cognitive science animal ethics gender anddisability to develop a theoretical and philosophical approach responsive toour changing understanding of ourselves and our world. Then in performingposthumanist readings of such diverse works as Temple Grandins writingsWallace Stevenss poetry Lars von Triers Dancer in the Dark thearchitecture of DillerScofidio and David Byrne and Brian Enos My Life inthe Bush of Ghosts he shows how this philosophical sensibility can transformart and culture. For Wolfe a vibrant rigorous posthumanism is vital foraddressing questions of ethics and justice language and transspeciescommunication social systems and their inclusions and exclusions and theintellectual aspirations of interdisciplinarity. In What Is Posthumanism? hecarefully distinguishes posthumanism from transhumanism the biotechnologicalenhancement of human beings and narrow definitions of the posthuman as thehopedfor transcendence of materiality. In doing so Wolfe reveals that it ishumanism not the human in all its embodied and prosthetic complexity that isleft behind in posthumanist thought. «