This timely book examines the rise of posthumanism as both a
material condition and a developing philosophical-ethical project
in the age of cloning, gene engineering, organ transplants and
implants.
Nayar first maps the political and philosophical critiques of
traditional humanism, revealing its exclusionary and
‘speciesist’ politics that position the human as a
distinctive and dominant life form. He then contextualizes the
posthumanist vision which, drawing upon biomedical, engineering and
techno-scientific studies, concludes that human consciousness is
shaped by its co-evolution with other life forms, and our human
form inescapably influenced by tools and technology. Finally the
book explores posthumanism’s roots in disability studies,
animal studies and bioethics to underscore the constructed nature
of ‘normalcy’ in bodies, and the singularity of species
and life itself.
As this book powerfully demonstrates, posthumanism marks a radical
reassessment of the human as constituted by symbiosis,
assimilation, difference and dependence upon and with other
species. Mapping the terrain of these far-reaching debates,
Posthumanism will be an invaluable companion to students of
cultural studies and modern and contemporary literature.
Daftar Isi
Contents
Acknowledgements
1. Revisiting the Human: Critical Humanisms
Terms and Definitions
Critical Humanisms and the Origins of Posthumanism
2. Consciousness, Biology and the Necessity of Alterity
Cognition, Consciousness and Autopoiesis
Biology, Systems and Systems Biology
Dealing with/in Alterity
3. The Body, Reformatted
Biomedia, the Body Mathematized and Postvital Life
Other/ing Bodies
The Body as Congeries, Assemblage and Interface
4. Absolute Monstrosities: The ‘Question of the
Animal’
Monster Theory: Cultures of Otherness
Animal Nature, Human Nature
The Humanimal
Speciesism
5. Life Itself: The View from Disability Studies and
Bioethics
Disability Studies and the Norms of the ‘Human’
Bioethics and Personhood
6. Posthuman Visions: Toward Companion Species
Posthuman Biology
Posthumanist Biology
Companion Species
Conclusion: Posthumanism as Species Cosmopolitanism
Bibliography
Index
Tentang Penulis
Pramod K. Nayar is a member of the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad, India.