Traditions of Yoga in Existential Posthuman Praxis

Abstract

This is a discussion of Francesca Ferrando’s book Philosophical Posthumanism, focusing in particular on three chapters, “Antihumanism and the Ubermensch,” “Technologies of the Self as Posthumanist (Re)Sources” and “Posthumanist Perspectivism.” It traces the origins and implications of the concepts at the center of these chapters from a posthumanist perspective. It then evaluates these implications from the viewpoint of a non-Western praxis, specifically the spiritual praxis of Indian yoga. For this, it elaborates briefly on some genealogies of yoga and discusses what an intersection of posthumanism and yoga may look like. It holds that such a consideration would enhance the concepts of the chapters in question in Ferrando’s text.