| Questions of whether consciousness is beholden to the context in which it experiences the world or not form the central debate about the nature of human life within discourses of posthumanism. Drawing on the wealth of science fiction media, theorists such as Scott Bukatman, and N. Katherine Hayles each make differing arguments about the direction humanity is heading in its ever-increasing convergence with advanced technology. While Bukatmans position calls for a redefinition of the subject and subjective consciousness in the face of a changing technological world, Hayles focus on embodiment as the groundwork of existence refutes what she sees as the technological nightmares in Bukatman and his analysis of cyberpunk. However, this conflict did not begin in the late twentieth century; rather my work will argue that this debate, and indeed posthumanism as a whole, have their roots in the works of the German Idealists as they reacted against Kant and the Enlightenment. Specifically I will trace the roots of ukatmans argument to Fichte and his First Principle of Philosophy that grounds all subjectivity. Next I will trace the work of Hayles, who reacts directly against Bukatman in How We Became Posthuman to Holderlin, who in his essay "Being and Judgement" reacts directly against Fichtes First Principle and the idea that consciousness is independent of corporeal being. Through this analysis I will demonstrate the extremely widespread, but heretofore unacknowledged influence German Idealism has had, and continues to have, on contemporary culture and its relationship with technology. |
