New biotechnologies have propelled the question of what it means
to be human or posthuman to the forefront of societal and
scientific consideration. This volume provides an accessible,
critical overview of the main approaches in the debate on
posthumanism, and argues that they do not adequately address the
question of what it means to be human in an age of biotechnology.
Not because they belong to rival political camps, but because they
are grounded in a humanist ontology that presupposes a radical
separation between human subjects and technological objects.
The volume offers a comprehensive mapping of posthumanist
discourse divided into four broad approaches two humanist-based
approaches: dystopic and liberal posthumanism, and two non-humanist
approaches: radical and methodological posthumanism. The author
compares and contrasts these models via an exploration of key
issues, from human enhancement, to eugenics, to new configurations
of biopower, questioning what role technology plays in defining the
boundaries of the human, the subject and nature for each.
Building on the contributions and limitations of radical and
methodological posthumanism, the author develops a novel
perspective, mediated posthumanism, that brings together insights
in the philosophy of technology, the sociology of biomedicine, and
Michel Foucault s work on ethical subject constitution. In this
framework, technology is neither a neutral tool nor a force that
alienates humanity from itself, but something that is always
already part of the experience of being human, and subjectivity is
viewed as an emergent property that is constantly being shaped and
transformed by its engagements with biotechnologies. Mediated
posthumanism becomes a tool for identifying novel ethical modes of
human experience that are richer and more multifaceted than current
posthumanist perspectives allow for.
The book will be essential reading for students and scholars
working on ethics and technology, philosophy of technology,
poststructuralism, technology and the body, and medical
ethics."
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