Viroid Life (Routledge Studies in Development) - Softcover

Pearson, Keith Ansell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415154359 ISBN 13: 9780415154352

Publisher: Routledge, 1997

Synopsis

Nietzsche's vision of the 'overman' continues to haunt the postmodern imagination. His call that 'man is something that must be overcome' can no longer be seen as simple rhetoric. Our experiences of the hybrid realities of artificial life have made the 'transhuman' a figure that looks over us all. Inspired by this vision, Keith Ansell Pearson sets out to examine if evolution is 'out of control' and machines are taking over.
In a series of six fascinating perspectives, he links Nietzsche's thought with the issues at stake in contemporary conceptions of evolution from the biological to the technological. Viroid Life; Perspectives on Nietzsche and the Transhuman Condition considers the hybrid, 'inhuman' character of our future with the aid of Nietzsche's philosophy. Keith Ansell Pearson contrasts Nietzsche and Darwin before introducing the more recent figures such as Giles Deleuze and Guy Debord to sketch a new thinking of technics and machines and stress the ambiguous character of our 'machine enslavement'.

About this title

About the Author:

Keith Ansell Pearson is Senior Lecturer and Director of Graduate Research, Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick. He recently edited Deleuze and Philosophy (Routledge 1996).

Review:

..." subtle and compelling ... This book will be of interest to those seeking a fresh and thoughtful approach to Nietzsche, to those concerned with the status of technology and biology in the late twentieth century, and to those who wish to pose questions about the future of the human."
-"New Nietzsche Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0415154359
• ISBN 13: 9780415154352
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216