Posthumanism: A Guide for the Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed) - Softcover

Mahon, Dr Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474236804 ISBN 13: 9781474236805

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017

Synopsis

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.

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 (2007), Joyce: A Guide for the Perplexed (2009) and Violence, Politics and Textual Interventions in Northern Ireland (2010). 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 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: 354