Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism and New Materialism| Francesca Ferrando|

Key Concepts

• Posthumanism: An umbrella term encompassing various movements questioning the traditional definition of "human," emphasizing evolution and challenging Western philosophical human-centric views.
• Transhumanism: A movement focused on enhancing human capabilities through science and technology, aiming for radical life extension, mind uploading, and other advancements.
• New Materialism: A perspective that emphasizes the importance of matter and its interconnectedness with language, discourse, and culture, challenging the separation between the material and the conceptual.
• Anti-humanism: A philosophical stance that questions the centrality of the human and acknowledges the "death of the human" as a concept.
• Metahumanism: A focus on the body's potential for change and interaction with its surroundings, often associated with cyborgs and enhanced beings.
• Metahumanities: The study of fictional superhumans and mutants in cultural narratives, often found in comics and role-playing games.
• Posthumanities: A shift from traditional humanities to exploring the posthuman condition, including the study of future generations, AI, and robots.

Posthumanism: An Umbrella Term

Posthumanism has become a key term to address the need for redefining the notion of the human. It encompasses various movements, including philosophical, cultural, and critical posthumanism, transhumanism, new materialism, anti-humanism, metahumanism, metahumanities, and posthumanities. This broad usage leads to methodological and theoretical confusion. The essay explores the differences and relations between these terms, focusing on the shared areas of signification between posthumanism and transhumanism.

Transhumanism: Human Enhancement Through Technology

Transhumanism focuses on human enhancement using science and technology, such as regenerative medicine, nanotechnology, radical life extension, mind uploading, and cryonics. It has subdivisions like:

• Libertarian Transhumanism: Advocates for free markets as the best guarantee of the right to human enhancement, emphasizing personal freedom and minimal government interference.
• Democratic Transhumanism: Calls for equal access to technological enhancements, preventing them from being limited to certain socio-political classes and economic powers.
• Extropianism: Emphasizes perpetual progress, self-transformation, practical optimism, intelligent technology, and open society, including self-direction and rational thinking.

Transhumanism has roots in the Enlightenment and can be defined as ultra-humanism. It challenges Western philosophy's prioritization of humans over non-human animals and its sexist, racist, classist, homophobic, and ethnocentric perceptions. Transhumanist studies see humans as generic and fit for all.

Example: Iron Man's use of technology to enhance his abilities.

Posthumanist Technology: A Feminist Perspective

Posthumanism and transhumanism share an interest in technology, but they reflect on it differently. Technology is seen as a functional tool for obtaining energy, more sophisticated technology, and even immortality. Donna Haraway's "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" distinguishes between human and non-human, biological organisms and machines, and physical and non-physical boundaries. Technology within the posthumanist frame is also seen in Martin Heidegger's essay "The Question Concerning Technology." Posthumanism considers how the future is conceived and imagined, connecting it to actual environments. Posthumanism takes into account space migration but, in its postmodern, postcolonial route, cannot support space colonization, a concept often found in transhumanist literature.

Posthumanism: Beyond Human-Centrism

Posthumanism's roots can be traced to the first wave of postmodernism, but the term was fully enacted by feminist theories in the 1990s within literary criticism. It is also referred to as post-anthropocentrism, going beyond the concept of "human" and humanism, built on hierarchical social constructs and human-centric assumptions. Posthumanism is post-exclusivism and post-exceptionalism, assimilating the dissolution of the new. It puts at stake the identity of the traditional center of Western discourse and is post-centralizing, recognizing centers of interest and dismissing the centrality of culturalism. Posthumanism is pluralistic, multi-layered, comprehensive, and inclusive.

Challenge: Scientists may focus on the exotic differences between robots, biotechnological chimeras, and aliens, avoiding human studies like feminism or critical race studies.

New Materialism: The Importance of Matter

New materialism reinscribes matter as a process of materialization in feminist and critical debate. It is inspired by feminism and postmodernism. Karen Barad, a key thinker, emphasizes that language, discourse, and culture matter, but the only thing that does not seem to matter anymore is matter itself. New materialism connects language and matter without dividing them, asserting that everything is made up of matter.

Anti-humanism, Metahumanism, Metahumanities, and Posthumanities

• Anti-humanism: Questions the traditional idea of what it means to be human, acknowledging the death of the human and deconstructing the centrality of the human.
• Metahumanism: Focuses on the body and how it can change and take on new meanings, considering the body as a dynamic network interacting with its surroundings.
  • Example: A human becoming a cyborg.
• Metahumanities: Refers to superhumans and mutants in cultural studies, relating to fictional characters and narratives.
  • Examples: Wolverine, Storm (from X-Men).
• Posthumanities: Focuses on shifting from traditional humanities to exploring the posthuman condition, including studying future generations, evolutionary relations to humans, tools, AI, and robots.

Conclusion

Posthuman discourse is an ongoing process with different standpoints and movements. The essay examines these terms, their similarities, and differences. Posthumanism challenges the centrality of the human, emphasizing human evolution and questioning Western philosophical traditions. It highlights the increasing importance of science and technology in creating modified versions of humans.