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

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(Post)Human: Being and Subjectivity in the Quest to Build Artificial People I, (Post)Human: Being and Subjectivity in the Quest to Build Artificial People A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of German Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences by Alex Hogue M.A. University of Kentucky May 2010 ii Committee Chair: Todd Herzog, Ph.D. Abstract 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 Bukatman’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 Hölderlin, 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. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the unending and generous support of my advisor, Todd Herzog, and the rest of my committee, Tanja Nusser, Valerie Weinstein, and Evan Torner. Todd’s ability to rephrase my jumbled ideas into coherent thoughts, Tanja’s continual challenge for me to analyze (and reanalyze) my presuppositions, Valerie’s attention to detail in argument structure, and Evan’s dedication to helping me streamline and restructure my thoughts were all vital contributions to the success of this project. Further thanks are due to the Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati and to the DAAD for providing funding for my work. Additionally, I would not have been able to complete this project without the support of my family. They listened to me explain, rework, and reexplain my ideas more times than I can count, and more times than they likely wanted to. Lastly, I want to thank Simone and our three cats: Minerva, Pickles, and Bellamy. They were always there for me to bounce ideas off of, to chat about (and introduce me to new) science fiction, and to keep me company while writing. i Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: PERCEIVING OR BEING? - PROMETHEUS, POSTHUMANISM, AND A TWO-HUNDRED YEAR ARGUMENT .......... 5 POSTHUMANISM: GROUNDING BEING AND DOWNLOADING MINDS .................................................................................................... 13 DASEIN AND PHENOMENOLOGY: A MODERNIST TAKE ON THE DEBATE ................................................................................................. 23 I AM I, OR MAYBE I’M JUST DISTANCED FROM MY ABSOLUTE BEING: .................................................................................................. 40 IDEALISM AND ROMANTICISM....................................................................................................................................................... 40 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................................. 53 CHAPTER 2: MIND OVER MATTER ...................................................................................................................................... 55 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................................................... 55 ROMANTICISM .......................................................................................................................................................................... 60 Der Sandmann (1817) ...................................................................................................................................................... 63 Frankenstein (1818) ......................................................................................................................................................... 71 MODERNISM ............................................................................................................................................................................. 81 Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (1924) .................................................................................................................................... 84 Metropolis (1927) ............................................................................................................................................................. 93 POSTHUMANISM ...................................................................................................................................................................... 102 Star Trek ......................................................................................................................................................................... 106 The Mass Effect Trilogy .................................................................................................................................................. 121 CHAPTER 3: THE ONTOLOGISTS STRIKE BACK .................................................................................................................. 146 ROMANTICISM ........................................................................................................................................................................ 152 “Die Automata” (1819)................................................................................................................................................... 156 Frankenstein (1819) ....................................................................................................................................................... 171 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ONTOLOGICAL POSTHUMANISM ...................................................................................................... 181 Battlestar Galactica Universe (1978-2013) .................................................................................................................... 185 Her (2014) ...................................................................................................................................................................... 202 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................................... 214 EPILOGUE - IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR POSTHUMANISM? ................................................................................................. 215 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................................................................. 220 1 Introduction There exists today a fundamental problem within Posthumanism1 and science fiction and the philosophical goals they aim to achieve. As science fiction imagines the possibilities of future beings and worlds, it grounds these imaginings not in the ideals of the contemporary world as much as it participates in the circular and reactionary intellectual discourse of post- Enlightenment era Germany. While the two-hundred-year separation of the German Idealists and Romantics from today's incredibly complex array of transmedial universes that include Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, The Mass Effect Trilogy and many others may seem to insulate the latter from the former, the opposite is actually true. One of the main driving conflicts, if not the main conflict, that unites the disparate science fiction works across contemporary media is the question of how human existence relates to the technology that humans produce. While this debate is often seen as a contemporary issue rooted in the technologies of the Digital Age, the philosophical conflict that drives this discourse stems directly from the conflict between the German Idealists and the Romantics, specifically from Fichte and Hölderlin, and has mutated over the last two hundred years to incorporate the real and imagined technologies of each epoch. The discourse that drives Posthumanist science fiction is namely one between those holding an epistemological view of existence and those holding an ontological view. The epistemologists see human existence as a primarily mental activity that is not tied in any 1 While the range of definitions
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