Overview

Though the progress of technology continually pushes life toward virtual existence, the last decade has witnessed a renewed focus on materiality. Design, Mediation, and the Posthuman bears witness to the attention paid by literary theorists, digital humanists, rhetoricians, philosophers, and designers to the crafted environment, the manner in which artifacts mediate human relations, and the constitution of a world in which the boundary between humans and things has seemingly imploded. The chapters reflect on questions about the extent to which we ought to view humans and nonhuman artifacts as having equal capacity for agency and life, and the ways in which technological mediation challenges the central tenets of humanism and anthropocentrism. Contemporary theories of human-object relations presage the arrival of the posthuman, which is no longer a futuristic or science-fictional concept but rather one descriptive of the present, and indeed, the past. Discussions of the posthuman already have a long history in fields like literary theory, rhetoric, and philosophy, and as advances in design and technology result in increasingly engaging artifacts that mediate more and more aspects of everyday life, it becomes necessary to engage in a systematic, interdisciplinary, critical examination of the intersection of the domains of design, technological mediation, and the posthuman. Thus, this collection brings diverse disciplines together to foster a dialogue on significant technological issues pertinent to philosophy, rhetoric, aesthetics, and science.

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9781498501156

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Anytime one mixes new technologies with the posthuman, one can expect a wild ride. Design, Mediation, and the Posthuman does not disappoint. From iPads and Phones, GPS and Internet on to LEGO and Siri, then to Steampunk Corsets, Elephantman and Final Fantasy VII, the role of posthuman and technologies undergoes a stimulating analysis. -- Don Ihde, Stony Brook University Design, Mediation, and the Posthuman provides an innovative set of interdisciplinary articles examining the intersections of the human, the technical, and the natural world. It offers both solid theoretical reflections on and interesting applications of ideas from major theoreticians working on these issues, from Bruno Latour to Peter-Paul Verbeek, Jane Bennett, and N. Katherine Hayles. -- Darrell Arnold, St. Thomas University

Anytime one mixes new technologies with the posthuman, one can expect a wild ride. Design, Mediation, and the Posthuman does not disappoint. From iPads and Phones, GPS and Internet on to LEGO and Siri, then to Steampunk Corsets, Elephantman and Final Fantasy VII, the role of posthuman and technologies undergoes a stimulating analysis. -- Don Ihde, Stony Brook University Design, Mediation, and the Posthuman provides an innovative set of interdisciplinary articles examining the intersections of the human, the technical, and the natural world. It offers both solid theoretical reflections on and interesting applications of ideas from major theoreticians working on these issues, from Bruno Latour to Peter-Paul Verbeek, Jane Bennett, and N. Katherine Hayles. -- Darrell Arnold, St. Thomas University

Author Information

Dennis Weiss is professor of philosophy in the English and Humanities Department at York College of Pennsylvania. Amy Propen is lecturer of rhetoric and composition in the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Colbey Emmerson Reid is director of the Consumer Innovation Consortium in the Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University.

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