Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed - Softcover

Mahon, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474236804 ISBN 13: 9781474236805

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017

Synopsis

In Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Peter Mahon gives his readers an overview of posthumanism, examining the intoxicating-and often troubling-entanglements of humans, animals and technology in science, society and culture that constitute its field. Mahon not only explores the key scientific advances in information technology and genetics have made us and society posthuman, but also how certain strands in art (such as science fiction and video games) and philosophy (for example, in the work of Andy Clarke and Jacques Derrida) have played-and continue to play-a crucial role in shaping how we understand those advances. Central to Mahon's analysis of posthumanism is an understanding of technology as a pharmakon-an ancient Greek word for a substance that is both a poison and a cure. In the light of this analysis, Mahon considers our posthuman future, as envisioned by a range of futurists, from Ray Kurzweil to those at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. What seems clear is that this future will require massive shifts in how we think about ourselves as techno-biological entities, about the benefits and threats of intelligent technologies and about the roles consumerism and universal basic income will play in societies. Posthumanism is our present, our future and a challenge to which we must rise.

The book provides a concise and coherent overview of Posthumanism, introducing all the key concepts and themes, and is ideal for undergraduates who require more than just a simple introduction to Posthumanist thought.

About this title

About the Author

PETER MAHON teaches in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of Imagining Joyce and Derrida: Between Finnegans Wake and Glas (U of Toronto P, 2007), Joyce: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum, 2009), Violence, Politics and Textual Interventions in Northern Ireland (Palgrave, 2010) and Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury, 2017). He has published essays in journals such as ELH, James Joyce Quarterly, Irish University Review, Partial Answers, as well as in edited volumes. He is currently writing a book on Reason and Unreason, working on a project on posthumanism in James Joyce and Jacques Derrida, and researching digital reading as part of a project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474236804
• ISBN 13: 9781474236805
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352