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Philosophical Posthumanism by Francesca Ferrando. Preface by Rosi Braidotti

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Philosophical Posthumanism by Francesca Ferrando. Preface by Rosi Braidotti Vol. 1 No. 1 Summer|Été 2021 - 56 - PHILOSOPHICAL POSTHUMANISM BY FRANCESCA FERRANDO. PREFACE BY ROSI BRAIDOTTI. London/New York: Bloomsbury Academic. 2019. 260+xviii pp. (Theory). ISBN: HB: 978-1- 3500-5950-4. £103.50. A Book Review by Orsola Rignani Philosophical Posthumanism by Francesca Ferrando is a part of the series “Theory in the New Humanities,” edited by Rosi Braidotti. If the series—in assuming with its exclamation, “Theory is back!” (p. ii)—aims to present cartographic accounts of emerging critical theories, then Ferrando’s book, with its combination of a genealogical-cartographic approach and critical analysis, corresponds with this goal by shedding light on similarities and differences between terms and schools of thought in philosophical posthumanism. Inspired and guided by what Rosi Braidotti in her illuminating Preface calls “exuberant excess” (pp. xii-xvi)—understood as a critical and creative attitude aimed at exploding consolidated concepts and opening new horizons—Ferrando’s research traces a picture of the posthuman as in excess of humanism. That is, a critique/overcoming of the humanist tradition based on a generalized approach to the human intended as male, white, European, and cultured, just to mention a few of its assumed characteristics. It also addresses what is in excess of anthropocentrism (i.e., as a critique/overcoming of the idea, put forward by the majority of historical accounts, of the centrality/superiority of the human species compared to the nonhuman) and in excess of dualism (i.e., as a critique/overcoming of the humanist idea of the separation between human and nature, human and machine, nature and culture, female and male, black and white, east and west, master and slave, colonizer and colonized etc.). The book is an exploration that starts from an analysis of the posthuman, understood as the philosophy that best thematizes our time, to addressing issues such as: “What Is Philosophical Posthumanism?” (Part One), “Of Which ‘Human’ Is the Posthuman a ‘Post’?” (Part Two), and “Have Humans Always Been Posthuman?” (Part Three). Philosophical Posthumanism’s exploratory journey is directed and supported by a Navigational Tool (pp. 7-17), which is a sort of glossary of the main questions the book addresses in its various sections. This is valuable asset in the book, both on the theoretical-argumentative and on the explanatory-didactic levels, because the Navigational Tool guides the reader through a heuristic path, constituting a (self-) test of comprehension of the book’s contents. With this tool at hand, the reader, by trying to answer the questions posed on each topic, becomes able to continually test their own understanding. An effective exploratory journey/navigation must encourage awareness in the reader at every step and Ferrando’s work is exemplary in this regard—even if such a strategy may risk sacrificing fluidity/continuity of the narrative. Supported by this Navigational Tool, the reader is guided through a historical overview of philosophical posthumanism, understood as the development of critical posthumanism—a specific take on the posthuman developed within the field of literary criticism—and cultural posthumanism—a take on the posthuman developed within cultural studies— with a more strictly philosophical approach. Ferrando, with the expertise and historical attention of an archaeologist, draws her genealogy from Heidegger’s 1947 “Letter on Humanism” all the way through postmodernism, including studies of difference and cyborg theory. This genealogy brings to light the relationship between philosophical posthumanism and the so-called deconstruction of the human, which started as a political cause in the 1960s, then became an academic Vol. 1 No. 1 Summer|Été 2021 - 57 - project in the 1970s, and finally evolved into an epistemological approach in the 1990s. Such a genealogic reconstruction evokes a global image of posthumanism as a radical critique of humanism and anthropocentrism; this image operates both as a practice and as a philosophy of mediation that takes a post-dualist and post- centralizing approach. “Posthumanism is a praxis, as well as a philosophy of mediation, which manifests post-dualistic, post-centralizing, comprehensive […] types of approaches” (pp. 3). After establishing this genealogy, the book continues with a comparative critical survey of posthumanism and transhumanism (Chapters 4-8). Through a recognition of its genealogy and its various expressions, transhumanism is explained as an Enlightenment “subsidiary” (pp. 33) which, despite its heterogeneity (libertarian transhumanism, extropianism, democratic transhumanism, and singularitarianism), as a whole has human enhancement as its main purpose (i.e., a radical transformation of the human condition by technologies such as regenerative medicine, mind uploading, cryonics etc.). Though Ferrando identifies openness to the possibilities offered by techno-science as a strength of the transhumanist vision, she also notes that its techno-reductionism and progressivism eludes any practice of deconstruction towards humanism and she argues that this is a weakness when she states that “Transhumanism offers a deep and visionary reflection on technology, which should be cherished by anyone interested in exploring the current, and hypothetical, potentialities of technology; some of its limits, though, are found in the uncritical perpetuation of anthropocentric and dualistic tendencies, which might lead to technocentric biases and delusions” (pp. 38). The exploratory journey therefore enacts a radical criticism of the rationality and progress apparent in transhumanism and what stands out in this comparative exploration is specifically the role of technology in revisiting the notion of the human: technology is a means and an end in transhumanist thought while technology is a mode of revealing in philosophical posthumanism. From transhumanism and posthumanism, which Ferrando faces and captures through their significance in the contemporary debate as well as their genealogical heritage, the book then delves into the territory of the human that the posthuman follows. Which human? At this point, there is a need for the posthuman to acquire awareness of its own genealogical relationship with the human through a deep philosophical and historical engagement with various meanings of “the human,” and, at the same time, a recognition that posthumanism manifests its critical attitude and articulates itself around the conditions of the “post.” Through a semantic- etymological recognition of the term “human,” the exploratory journey arrives at the idea that the posthuman puts, as mentioned before, the limits and boundaries imposed by the notion of the human (dualisms such as human/animal, human/machine, human/nonhuman, natural/artificial, etc.) in question. After this comes the third stage of Ferrando’s argument, guided by the question of whether humans have always been posthuman. An investigation of the “bio” realm (life and biology, bioethics etc.) arrives at an idea of posthumanism as a challenge to biocentrism and the notion of life itself; a contention that sweeps away the boundaries between animate and inanimate. This is how the journey accesses the ontological field, which Ferrando investigates in the context of new materialism, a specifically feminist approach to the investigation of matter. Ferrando therefore asserts an idea of the human not as a single agent, but as a part of a network (semiotic, material, multidimensional); that is, an idea of the human as already posthuman. Ferrando’s book keenly rethinks the notion of a multiverse (i.e., the idea that what we call universe might be one of many), an idea that Philosophical Posthumanism considers inherently posthuman in its perspective of a pluri- Vol. 1 No. 1 Summer|Été 2021 - 58 - dimensional, material network (bearing ethical, social, political, existential implications) in which humans themselves can be perceived precisely as nodes of becoming, away from any dualisms, centralizations etc. (Chapter 30). Through the three above-mentioned stages, Ferrando’s book becomes, in the final part (“Interlude 3 - Concluding Celebration”), an ethical-existential vision/projection that aims to celebrate “the blooming of the posthuman community” (pp. 183). The most compelling aspect of Ferrando’s argument is that she answers yes to the following questions: Can we be posthuman in the present moment? Is it possible for humans to be posthuman? Is this the era of philosophical posthumanism? And is posthumanism a praxis? It is also inspired to indicate post-humanist, post- anthropocentric, post-dualist existential practices as answers to questions about how to exist as posthumanists, how to become posthuman, what it means to be posthuman in relation to other species, why technology is relevant to the discussion on philosophical posthumanism, whether it is time to “abandon” the human, and how alterity can exist within the self. With an impressive ability to combine a recognition of the current state of scholarship, a synoptic vision of the field, and an enthusiasm for research and discovery, Ferrando portrays the posthuman in its heterogeneity and philosophical posthumanism in its multifaceted theoretical endeavors. Furthermore, she does this with the rigor and skill of a distinguished scholar, the explanatory ability of an expert teacher, the enthusiasm and pathos of a narrator, and the inspiration of a prophetic, “realistic” announcer. Ferrando writes that “from a philosophical posthumanist
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