Posthumanist Discourse Research Articles

The Finitude of the Human and the World of the None-Whole: On the Aesthetics of Existence in Korean Modernist Literature in the Posthuman Age

Posthuman discourse calls for a fundamental shift away from modern anthropocentric thought. This shift stems from the reflection that many of the problems in the modern capitalist world, including climate change, are rooted in anthropocentric attitudes and ways of life. Amid rapid climatic and technological changes, transforming our way of thinking is essential. This paper argues that such a transformation is possible through the exploration of new subjectivities that incorporate the other, transforming the self in the process. It examines how 1930s Korean colonial modernist literature illustrates this search for new subjectivities. Based on this exploration, this paper also concretizes the tendencies and problems in our society, particularly concerning technological fascism, through recent Korean fiction and discusses the significance of the literary imaginations of 1930s colonial Korean modernism in the posthuman era.

Walking With/In Place: The Walking Turn In Socially Engaged Public Art From Aotearoa New Zealand

This article first suggests that there has been a “Walking Turn” in contemporary socially engaged public art and then considers critically how these practices might be best framed and understood in the context of Aotearoa. There has been a multitude of walking-based artworks in Aotearoa since the second half of the 2010s to the present. In the wake of the global pandemic and natural flooding and cyclone disasters in Aotearoa that soon followed, “going out for a walk” has been repeatedly problematized and reframed for most citizens. This article seeks to establish a theoretical framework that is responsive to Indigenous as well as posthumanist discourse, through which we might best consider walking art practices in Aotearoa. To do this, the concept of walking “with/in” place is employed as an entry point. Drawing on research interviews, a number of culturally informed concepts related to walking are examined alongside notions of countermapping and countermonument. The artwork analysis considers the decolonial, counterneoliberal, and regenerative principles underlining these practices. The artworks discussed engage in histories and contemporary politics of place and can be characterized by quietude, humility, and hyperlocality.

Skin sediments: Narrating memory in Kim de l'Horizon's Blutbuch (2022)

AbstractKim de l'Horizon's Blutbuch contributes to the contemporary posthumanist discourse of the German‐language literary landscape by developing an original way of narrating memory through transformative materialities. This article explores two forms of memory narration that de l'Horizon evokes and combines in their text resulting in a productive space of tension between the protagonist and their environment. On the one hand, the main character grasps narratives as layers of skin (Gehäute) that serve as a physical boundary of the figures in the text. On the other hand, de l'Horizon proposes a memory narrative that aims to permeate these skin boundaries to reconnect the human self with surrounding matter in a fluid, symbiotic way.

Envisioning Posthuman India: An Analysis of S.B Divya’s Machinehood

The contemporary technological epoch is witnessing the growth of posthuman discourse in science fiction novels as they focus on studying the future existence of humans and nonhumans. However, these posthuman insights and studies are mostly confined to Western sci-fi novels. The present study argues that contemporary Indian English science fiction optimistically deals with posthumanist concepts and shows how a harmonious existence is possible. The idea is delineated through S.B Divya’s debut novel Machinehood (2021), and it becomes a productive site to analyse posthuman India's future. The Borromean knot of human- achinenature in the novel delineates how this harmonious existence is possible. The study employs close reading and interpretation by using the concepts of “critical posthumanism” by Rosi Braidotti and “philosophical posthumanism” by Francesca Ferrando. The paper attempts to show how Divya deals with themes like advanced capitalism, neo-religion and sustainable environment, moving away from the conventional notions of anthropocentrism and how she unravels the potentials of posthumanism through symbiotic living.

AGAMA EKLOGIS DAN WACANA NON-HUMAN TURN

This article discusses the difference between posthuman discourse and nonhuman discourse in the context of ecological religion. Unlike posthuman discourse, which has teleological elements, nonhuman discourse emphasizes that humans interact with nonhuman entities without seeking the transformation of humans into non-humans. The article proposes that it is important to understand the relationship between humans and nature as a nonhuman agency, rather than merely as nonhuman entities. This is aimed at reconstructing the ontological basis of ecological religious discourse to avoid being trapped in an anthropocentric paradigm. This research adopts the conceptual frameworks of Actor-Network Theory and the Politics of Things developed by Bruno Latour to view the relationship between humans and nature in a broader and non-teleological context. The analytical methods used in this research are philosophical approaches and literature review. Both approaches are used to find the philosophical foundation of ecological religious discourse and its correlation with the Non-human Turn. The research results show that at the epistemic level, human subjectivity is crucial in determining attitudes toward the conceived reality. However, at the ontological level, there is a space untouched by human thought and consciousness, implying a postponement/suspension of moral judgment that is not final. In particular, in moral consensus, the actors involved also include non-human entities. Consequently, the understanding of the ideal attitude toward nature should use a phenomenological approach that focuses on the consequences of the objectification of the subject toward the world beyond itself.

The Womb of a Lesser Woman: Indian Anglophone Fiction and the Politics of Biotechnological Othering

Our paper investigates the fictional representations of ‘biotechnological othering’ and biological precarity as experienced by underprivileged Indian women with particular emphasis on the commodification of their wombs. Foregrounding the exploitation of their reproductive rights via surrogacy at the hands of the glocal capitalist elite, we rout our argument through the representational practices of The House of Hidden Mothers by Meera Syal and Origins of Love by Kishwar Desai to explore the disavowal of the reproductive rights of socio-economically vulnerable Indian women and the re-perpetuation of capitalist modes of inferiorization that target them. Contesting the egalitarian tilt of posthuman discourses, our main contention is that the biotechnological commodification of the wombs of indigent women does not merely confine them within structural inequalities, it also ensures that they remain confined within a biological precarity. Taking theoretical support from pertinent voices in the field including Deepika Bahri, Laura Harrison, Anureet Lotay, Katerina Kolarova and Eva-Sabine Zehelein, we unpick the multi-dimensional ramifications of biotechnological othering depicted in these novels to foreground the threat of biological precarity embedded within transnational surrogacy and the continuation of the dehumanization of Women of Colour in today’s world.

Philosophical Posthumanism: A Renewed Worldview and a Methodological Framework for Critical Analysis

Abstract Exponential technological advances capture the zeitgeist of contemporary society. Machines are increasingly gaining agency, which helps in the deconstruction of the humanist notion of humans. Society takes a posthuman turn with large-scale human–machine imbrication and nonhuman agency. The posthuman turn is also reflected in the academic world, which is seriously contemplating the integration of posthumanities. The philosophical posthumanism of Francisca Ferrando is a posthuman theory with three constituent elements: post-humanism, post-anthropocentrism, and post-dualism. Post-humanism revisits the definition of human that has given rise to marginalization within the human species. Post-anthropocentrism critiques the human superiority and exceptionalism that have led to the marginalization of other species. Post-dualism revisits the dualistic mindset that allows hierarchical sociopolitical constructions. Ferrando presents a vision of a posthuman utopian society that recognizes pluralistic voices within the human species on egalitarian terms, accepts and values the agency of nonhuman actors, and sheds the dualistic view of life that keeps humans and nonhumans on either side of the binary system. Philosophical posthumanism can be suitable as a methodological framework to analyze the posthuman discourses in literary works, specifically in science fiction.

The turning point of civilization: Sociological perspective toward artificial intelligence on modern humanity

The ongoing debate about whether artificial intelligence (AI) is a gift or a curse to humanity is explored in this study from a sociological perspective. The study examines how AI simplifies human work but devalues creativity, intuition, emotion, and consciousness, ultimately transforming society. The research suggests that while the challenges of AI can be overcome, three aspects of human cognition are difficult to replace: curiosity, humility, and emotional intelligence. On a social level, AI cannot replace initiatives for cooperation, cultural awareness, and encouragement to be part of society (sense of socialization). The study emphasizes the need for values, rules, and discourse. AI must be based on human rights, democracy, inclusion and diversity. It strengthens and enhances the discourse and practice of digital humanism and post-humanism. It also highlights the importance of incorporating religious values, local wisdom, and rules or policies to mitigate and resolve AI risks. The conclusion is that AI is not inherently a threat to humanity, but rather the greatest threat is humanity itself. The research emphasizes the need for collective feedback and understanding to improve AI systems through collaboration, as the road is long and full of surprises and challenges.

Nursing in a posthuman era: Towards a technology-integrated ecosystem of care

The healthcare sector has undergone significant transformation due to the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and biotechnologies, presenting both opportunities and threats to the nursing profession. Posthumanism, as a critical perspective challenging anthropocentrism and emphasizing the increasingly blurred boundaries between humans and nonhumans, provides a novel lens to comprehend these technological advancements. In this commentary paper, I draw on the posthuman discourse to argue that in light of these technological forces, we need to contemplate the core values and fundamental patterns of knowing within the nursing discipline, reconfigure nursing scope, redefine its relations with other agents, and embrace a technology-integrated ecosystem of care.

New Bottles for Old Wine? On Playing God: Post- and Transhumanism from the Perspective of Kalām

Abstract Post- and transhumanist discourses have evolved out of the humanist discourse and deal with the social, economic, and ethical challenges that arise in the wake of technological advances. These are questions such as the following: If the technical prerequisites are met, should we support human cloning, radical life extension, or the creation of artificial bodies into which we can upload our minds? Although there are numerous publications by Muslim legal scholars contributing to the posthumanist discourse within the framework of the bioethical discourse, there is still little to no scholarship tackling the post- and transhumanist discourse from the perspective of kalām, the systematic theology of Islam. So far, only a few articles that approach this task can be identified. This article gives an overview of the core theological positions of Muslim researchers in post- and transhumanist discourse and offers a systematic critical analysis of the presented contributions from the perspective of kalām. It argues that the Critical Posthumanist approach provides a fertile ground for Muslim scholars to contribute in. Hence it can also be read as a contribution to the emerging scholarly field of new kalām (kalām al-jadīd).

Constructing knowledge at the intersection of disciplines: appraisal in knowledge claims concerning animals in posthumanist discourse

The discursive practices of individual academic disciplines differ in many ways, which is why numerous studies of academic discourse adopt cross-disciplinary perspectives to explore the character and extent of those differences. Less attention has, however, been given to interdisciplinary discourses which incorporate the findings and/or research methods from a number of disciplines. This paper focuses on the discourse of one of the new critical interdisciplinarities: posthumanism. More specifically, it examines how posthumanist discourse integrates knowledge produced by the soft and hard sciences (as well as other sources) to build its perspective on animals and their relations with humans. Using Martin and White’s (2005) appraisal framework to study knowledge claims collected from selected scholarly monographs adopting a posthumanist perspective, this study demonstrates that posthumanist claims referring to biological knowledge and experiential evidence tend to contain neutral, positive and endorsing formulations, while the knowledge from the soft sciences is reported in more critical ways, which is consistent with the aims of critical interdisciplinarities, i.e. questioning and transforming the dominant knowledge structure within different disciplines. Additionally, this paper provides evidence of the importance of popular science within interdisciplinary research in the humanities. It also sheds some light on the rhetorical practices within the scholarly monograph as a genre, particularly concerning the relative flexibility of its discursive conventions in comparison with those expected from a research article.

The Posthuman in Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri and Agantuk- Embracing the Redefined Self

Posthumanism is one of the emerging fields of study in recent times. It deals with a redefined perspective toward man. It advocates that man has always been in existence, which is a concoction of that which man considered to be the Other. The Self and the Other exist in a natural rhythm in the Universe. The theory delves deep into the nature of Man and attempts to travel away from the Humanistic idea that Man is at the centre of all the functioning of Nature and views Man as apart from Nature. Posthumanism suggests man to be a part of nature. A discussion of human nature cannot be completed without the mention of the Renaissance Man Satyajit Ray. The paper attempts to locate hints of a Posthumanist discourse in Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri and Agantuk.

Dystopian future and borders of humanity Analyzing «The Road» (2006) by Cormac McCarthy and «Pomyrana» (2016) by Taras Antypovych

The article explores the artistic means of representation of the degradation of food practices in the post-apocalyptic literary discourse of contemporary writers. The study focuses on the strategies of food culture degradation in the post-humanist discourse of two novels — Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” and Taras Antypovych’s “Pomyrana”. Using interpretative and comparative methods, the article aims to concentrate on the existential issues of the novels and compare the artistic means of depicting the moral degradation of humanity and the decline of food culture in “The Road” and “Pomyrana”. The research results affirm that the portrayal of food not only highlights the struggle for survival but also carries symbolic and metaphorical significance. Both authors use the issue of food supply to reflect the collective anxieties of modern society and to link the issue of moral degradation and the survival of human beings. Food imagery is used to describe possible means of survival for the protagonists in the post-apocalyptic world, symbolizes the lost world (“The Road”) and reflects the inner moral state of a community (“Pomyrana”). The expression “you are what you eat” has a special significance in these texts — in Pomyrana the semi-robotized people eat inedible substances to satisfy their animalistic hunger, eventually turning to cannibalism, which reflects their deep moral degradation. In “The Road”, the protagonists continuously choose starvation over cannibalism, spending their time looking for pre-apocalyptic food and for a chance at survival. In this case, cannibalism is presented as a liminal food practice of “bad people”. The novelty of the article lies in the comparative approach to analyzing how food-related discourse is portrayed throughout the novels and what cannibalism reveals about both the characters and society as a whole. Thus, cannibalism serves as a means to construct the boundary between human and inhuman, defines categories of good and evil, and illustrates the moral orientations of the heroes in the analyzed novels.

Reincarnation of an Egyptian queen

This article proposes Nina Simone as an Afrofuturist artist who explores themes of utopia and dystopia in connection to posthuman discourses. Having established three main ways in which this is a speculative approach, it then explores gaps in existing theories of posthumanism and Afrofuturism. It also considers work that addresses the omission of female musicians in Afrofuturist theory and proposes alternative theories in the form of speculative fiction and Black utopias. The article discusses Simone’s frequent allusions to Egyptian myth, her self-identification as a ‘robot’ and her interest in other planets, planes and spheres. It argues that, beyond the unexplored parallels with ‘classic’ Afrofuturism, there is a sense of dystopianism, apocalypse and reterritorialization throughout Simone’s mature work. To explore these connections, three case studies are used: the 1969 album Nina Simone and Piano!, the song ‘22nd Century’, and Simone’s performance at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival.

Идея сверхчеловека в философии Ф. Ницше: новые ценности за гранью человечности

In the light of the contemporary post-humanist discourse and tendency towards rejecting the idea of the subject in Western European philosophy, Nietzsche’s concept of the Übermensch (overman) appears to be an integral part of discussions on the anthropological limit and the transformation of human nature. This article considers Nietzsche’s main views on the need to reassess moral values during the devaluation of the Christian religion in Europe. The author analyses the concept of the will to power, which for Nietzsche is an internal energy, a necessary condition for the formation of new values. This is the essence of life. Through his idea of the overman, Nietzsche highlights the problem of cultural decadence in late 19thcentury Europe. In addition, the paper describes the views of W. Kaufmann, who called Nietzsche a philosopher-surgeon because he stressed the problem of moral degradation of European society. In Nietzsche’s philosophy, this ideological position is associated with the rejection of those values that he considered dead, as well as with an attempt to create new value orientations. The analysis of the image of Zarathustra allows us to conclude that the explication of the image of the overman reflects Nietzsche’s axiological ideal, which is based on a new understanding of human, established on the value orientations based on egocentrism, nihilism and the idea of will to power as the only condition for becoming. The author demonstrates that the underlying reason for the overman’s self-destruction is his belief that the world can exist without God. Idealizing the image of the overman is dangerous, as becoming an overman means overcoming human virtues, when, by crossing the boundaries of good and evil, the subject becomes able to create his/her own value orientations, which are incompatible with human virtues.

Transformation of technology discourse in Jules Verne's novels

Döneminin, hatta insanlık tarihinin en vizyoner yazarlarından biri olan Jules Verne, yazın evreninin merkezine teknolojiyi koyarak insanlığın uygarlık çizgisindeki ilerleyişini yüzyıllar öncesinden öngördüğü yapıtlar üretmiştir. Ancak yazarlığının ilk yıllarında insanlığın gelişmesine yönelik umutlu söylemleri, 1880’li yıllardan sonra verdiği yapıtlarında gelişen teknoloji karşısında daha karamsar ve endişeli bir yöne kaymıştır. Çalışmada Jules Verne’in Ay’a Yolculuk (1865) ve Ayın Çevresinde Seyahat (1869) başlıklı erken dönem yapıtları ile serinin üçüncü ve son romanı olan Ne Altı Var Ne Üstü (1889) başlıklı geç dönem yapıtındaki teknoloji söylemleri, çağdaş ve birbiriyle ilintili olan transhümanizm ve posthümanizm kavramları çerçevesinde karşılaştırmalı olarak ele alınmıştır. Bu kavramların, Jules Verne’in yaşadığı dönemden yaklaşık 100 yıl sonra üretilmiş olsalar bile, yapıtların içerdiği teknoloji söylemleri ile örtüştükleri görülmüştür. Erken dönem yapıtlarının transhümanist bir çizgide, yani insan merkezli bir teknolojik ilerleyişi öncelediği anlaşılmıştır. Buna karşın geç dönem yapıtlarında posthümanist bir çizgide kaldığı, başka bir deyişle insanın kendini merkeze koyduğu ve diğer varlıkları geri planda değerlendirdiği antroposen çağını eleştirdiği ve canlı-cansız, doğa-kültür ve ırklar arası hiyerarşilerden doğan endişelerini aktardığı yeni bir teknolojik söylem ürettiği gözlemlenmiştir. Yapılan karşılaştırma sonucu Jules Verne’in teknoloji söyleminin zaman içerisindeki bu dönüşümü, transhümanist ve posthümanist söylemler arasındaki benzerlik ve farklılıklar bağlamında irdelenmeye çalışılmıştır.

"Think different" to prevent extinction. Connecting Gregory Bateson’s Cybernetic Epistemology with Posthumanism

Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) left a stark warning to humanity; either change how we think or face extinction. He warned that three drivers are leading us to catastrophe; our reliance upon ever developing technology, population increase and the way we think. Bateson offered what he termed a “cybernetic epistemology” as an alternative way of thinking, and I will offer some thoughts about how this might be made more accessible to help us find a route out of the panmorphic crisis described by Simon (2021) of multiple threats to our existence. As part of the discussion, I will outline the concepts of conscious purpose, dualistic thinking, and other Batesonian ideas, including his understanding of “mind” and of schismogenesis, with the hope of encouraging the changes to our thinking that Bateson hoped we might make. I will connect with more recent posthumanist writers who have been directly or indirectly influenced by Bateson and identify common areas of concern, and I suggest that much posthumanist discourse is remarkably similar to Bateson’s cybernetic epistemology.

Ontology and Closeness in Human–Nature Relationships: Beyond Dualisms, Materialism and Posthumanism, by Neil H. Kessler

<i>Ontology and Closeness in Human–Nature Relationships: Beyond Dualisms, Materialism and Posthumanism</i>, by Neil H. Kessler

Language and radical anthropocentrism: the view from the supercategory

Abstract The article critically engages with the posthumanist discourse on anthropocentrism and human exceptionalism. It adopts an “integrational” approach to signs, language, and communication, as outlined in the works of Oxford linguist Roy Harris. Integrational linguistics is committed to a demythologized view of “language,” which it considers to exist only as part of the experience of human individuals and human collectivities. From an integrational point of view, language is not an “object” of scientific inquiry, but a complex of human activities that make such an inquiry possible in the first place. This paper argues that posthumanists falsely ascribe language to animals and to hypothetical extraterrestrials. Based on Harris’ concept of the supercategory, it is shown that the worldviews encapsulated in science, history, and religion only make sense because they are human worldviews. No other intelligent life could grasp the various supercategorical discourses, and how they relate to each other, the main reason being that language is a uniquely integrated mode of human communication. The article thus supports a radical anthropocentrism as the only intellectually viable philosophy on which to draw in our reflections on, and inquiries into both intraspecies and interspecies communication.

A Study on Post-Human Discourse and Character Theory of Classical Narrative: The Vengeful Ghost as Narrative Subject

포스트휴먼 담론의 등장으로 인문학을 비롯한 학문 전 영역에서 종래의 관점이 아닌 새로운 관점에서 인간에 대한 다시 보기가 활성화되고 있다. 새로운 담론은 현상에 대한 지시나 해석뿐 아니라, 기존의 세계관이나 인간관에 대한 변화를 함축하고 견인한다. 따라서 새로운 담론을 토대로 하여 새로운 시각이나 접근 방법에 대한 모색은 고전문학 연구에서도 여전히 유효한 문제이다. 본 논의에서는 고전서사에 자주 등장하는 비인간적 존재이면서 인간 존재의 가치와 성격을 잘 드러내는 ‘원귀(&#20900;鬼)’를 대상으로 새롭게 인물 읽기를 시도하였다. 서사의 기호적 주체를 중심으로 보면, 원귀 서사는 여성이 원한을 갖게 되고, 원귀가 되어 원한을 푸는 구조로 되어 있다. 전반부 서사에서 여성은 행위 주체가 되지 못하고 상태 주체에 머무는데, 이후 원귀가 되어 서사의 과업을 수행하는 행위 주체로 바뀐다. 서사의 세계에서 기호적 존재로서 주체의 행로는 ‘잠재화’ 양태에서 ‘현동화’ 양태를 거쳐 ‘실현화’ 양태로 이어지는데, 원귀는 인간에서 원귀로 변함에 따라 이 과정에 새로운 ‘가능화’ 양태의 단계를 마련한다. 원귀는 이제 주어진 세계 질서 속에서 제한되었던 행위의 범주에서 벗어나 새로운 가능성을 실현시키고 과업을 수행하는 주체가 된 것이다. 주체의 이런 변화는 인간으로서 당연히 존중받아야 하는 인간 존엄성이나 사랑의 실현과 같은 기본적인 욕망이 부정되는 현실 세계에 대한 분노의 표출에 근거한다. 정념의 주체로서 원귀는 현실 세계에서 무엇이 결핍되어 있는지와 무엇이 보충되어야 하는지를 보여준다. 바로 이 점을 통해 원귀에 대한 새로운 읽기는 세계를 대변하고 그것의 질서를 부여하는 인간에 대한 성찰의 요구라 할 수 있다.