Abstract
The chapter shows how Western art history has been dominated by dualistic ontological premises since dualistic thinking was created with Plato’s philosophy in ancient Greece. With Darwin’s research and Nietzsche’s reflections, the dualistic Western cultural tradition has undergone a twist. Since then, various non-dualistic ways of thinking together with this artistic creations have been realized. In recent times, the various posthuman philosophies, among which critical post- and transhumanism are the most widely received approaches, have led to new artistic modes, and corresponding challenges. On the basis of these reflections, I develop elements of a posthuman philosophy of art, whereby a specific focus is given to bioart which deals with aspects of both critical post- and transhumanist reflections. Both approaches generate new ways of thinking about the world which imply a fundamental parading shift. Many posthuman art works fulfil the demands of a total work of art, but one without totalitarian implications, i.e. a non-totalitarian total work of art.
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Notes
- 1.
Selected thoughts were integrated from a different short paper of mine (Sorgner 2016).
- 2.
There is a lot to be said concerning the relevance of Stelarc’s works for the posthuman tradition. His works bear transhumanist as well as posthumanist connotations. Concerning ethics, his performances are more closely connected to critical posthumanism than to transhumanism. Yet, all of the great variety of philosophical challenges his works raise are related to the posthuman turn. There ought to be a separate study concerning the manifold implications of his performances concerning the most fundamental aspects of posthuman philosophies.
- 3.
http://europe.newsweek.com/can-artificially-intelligent-computer-make-art-462847?rm=eu Accessed 28 Oct 2020.
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Sorgner, S.L. (2021). Elements of a Posthuman Philosophy of Art. In: Hofkirchner, W., Kreowski, HJ. (eds) Transhumanism: The Proper Guide to a Posthuman Condition or a Dangerous Idea?. Cognitive Technologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56546-6_5
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