Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

I, (Post)Human: Being and Subjectivity in the Quest to Build Artificial People

Abstract Details

2016, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature.
Questions of whether consciousness is beholden to the context in which it experiences the world or not form the central debate about the nature of human life within discourses of posthumanism. Drawing on the wealth of science fiction media, theorists such as Scott Bukatman, and N. Katherine Hayles each make differing arguments about the direction humanity is heading in its ever-increasing convergence with advanced technology. While Bukatman’s position calls for a redefinition of the subject and subjective consciousness in the face of a changing technological world, Hayles’ focus on embodiment as the groundwork of existence refutes what she sees as the technological nightmares in Bukatman and his analysis of cyberpunk. However, this conflict did not begin in the late twentieth century; rather my work will argue that this debate, and indeed posthumanism as a whole, have their roots in the works of the German Idealists as they reacted against Kant and the Enlightenment. Specifically I will trace the roots of ukatman’s argument to Fichte and his First Principle of Philosophy that grounds all subjectivity. Next I will trace the work of Hayles, who reacts directly against Bukatman in How We Became Posthuman to Holderlin, who in his essay “Being and Judgement” reacts directly against Fichte’s First Principle and the idea that consciousness is independent of corporeal being. Through this analysis I will demonstrate the extremely widespread, but heretofore unacknowledged influence German Idealism has had, and continues to have, on contemporary culture and its relationship with technology.
Harold Herzog, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Tanja Nusser, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Evan Torner, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Valerie Weinstein, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
231 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hogue, A. (2016). I, (Post)Human: Being and Subjectivity in the Quest to Build Artificial People [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1468574783

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hogue, Alex. I, (Post)Human: Being and Subjectivity in the Quest to Build Artificial People. 2016. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1468574783.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hogue, Alex. "I, (Post)Human: Being and Subjectivity in the Quest to Build Artificial People." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1468574783

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)