1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910807072403321

Autore

Mahon Peter <1971->

Titolo

Posthumanism : a guide for the perplexed / / by Peter Mahon

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Bloomsbury Academic, , 2017

ISBN

1-4742-3681-2

1-4742-3682-0

1-4742-3678-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (353 pages)

Collana

Guides for the perplexed

Disciplina

144

Soggetti

Humanism - Forecasting

Humanism - History - 21st century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1 Introduction: Posthumanism-A Dialogue of Sorts -- 2 Cybernetics, Information, Prosthetics, Genetics -- 3 Artificial Intelligences -- 4 Socio-cultural Posthumanism -- 5 Philosophical Posthumanism -- 6 Conclusion -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

"In Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Peter Mahon goes beyond recent theoretical approaches to 'the posthuman' to argue for a concrete posthumanism, which arises as humans, animals and technology become entangled, in science, society and culture. Concrete posthumanism is rooted in cutting-edge advances in techno-science, and this book offers readers an exciting, fresh and innovative exploration of this undulating, and often unstable, terrain. With wide-ranging coverage, of cybernetics, information theory, medicine, genetics, machine learning, politics, science fiction, philosophy and futurology, Mahon examines how posthumanism played-and continues to play-a crucial role in shaping how we understand our world. This analysis of posthumanism centers on human interactions with tools and technology, the centrality of science, as well as an understanding of techno-science as a pharmakon-an ancient Greek word for a substance that is both poison and cure. Mahon argues that posthumanism must be approached with an interdisciplinary attitude: a concrete posthumanism is only graspable through knowledge derived from



science and the humanities. He concludes by sketching a 'post-humanities' to help us meet the challenges of posthumanism, challenges to which we all must rise. Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed provides a concise, detailed and coherent exploration of posthumanism, introducing key approaches, concepts and themes. It is ideal for readers of all stripes who are interested in a concrete posthumanism and require more than just a simple introduction."--Bloomsbury Publishing.