The Rise of Posthumanism: Challenge to and Prospect for Mankind

Abstract

Posthumanism has in the past few years been one of the most cutting-edge theoretical topics increasingly attracting the critical attention of scholars of both humanities and social sciences. The author holds that the rise of “posthumanism” in the West during the past decades indicates that in the present era, man, like those living animals and plants on the earth, is nothing but one of the species in nature, whose existence and development to a large extent depend on natural law. It is true that posthumanism came after the crisis of humanism, but it has continuity with and transcends over the latter. It informs us that over-evaluating the role of man is by no means adequate, for man has entered into a “posthuman” stage, in which man is no longer viewed as the only species that has rational thought, nor is he the head of all the species on the earth. But man can create various wonders, some of which are even beyond man’s control. Although the rise of posthumanism has raised a severe challenge and even threat to traditional humanism and human existence, the author still hopefully finds some prospects for mankind, especially in current China where a sort of ecocivilization should be built up and digital humanities may well bridge up the gap between science and humanities.