Being and Not Being: End Times of Posthumanism and the Future Undoing of Philosophy

Being and Not Being argues that contingency is definitive of the structure of being itself, meaning that any predictions about the future are necessarily subject to possible error. This ethical demand transforms the 'rules of critical and ethical engagement not simply with other, 'inhuman forms of being, but with the future itself. It requires us to pose serious questions about the legitimacy and usefulness of any decisions made today on the back of predicted futures that erroneously presume the absolute determinability of all beings lacking the alchemical privilege definitive of life.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 15 December 2023
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Against the prevailing theoretical perspectives that embrace illusions of safety and certainty, Being and Not Being presents a compelling argument that contingency is an inherent characteristic of the very structure of being itself. Consequently, any predictions about the future based on present or habitual states of being are inherently prone to error due to the inherent unpredictability that governs all emergent forms of existence. Rather than indicating the absence of an ethical dimension, this prior inscription of potential, which gives rise to profoundly unforeseen forms of being, necessarily invokes an a priori ethical demand that is shared by biological and technological systems alike. This ethical demand fundamentally transforms the rules of critical and ethical engagement not only with other "inhuman" forms of being but also with the future itself. Indeed, this ethical demand necessitates us to raise profound questions about the legitimacy and usefulness of any decisions made today based on predicted futures that erroneously assume the absolute determinability of all beings lacking the alchemical privilege that defines life. As the quintessential example of unfounded privilege, Hamlet serves as the focal point where the question of life ultimately concludes, giving way to the extremophile as the figure of unforeseen futures that simply cannot be imagined in the present. To be is to possess the potential to be otherwise, that is, to not be what a given being is.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538188224