A Study Of The Posthumanism Of Donna Haraway

Donna Haraway is a prominent contemporary American scholar who brings together questions of science and cultural studies and she has remarkably contributed to posthumanism theories in her writings such as the pioneering essay The Cyborg Manifesto.Her theory covers the fields of philosophy,literature,biology,information technology,anthropology,modern art,etc.This essay is dedicated to proving Donna Haraway’s significant position in the development of posthumanism and is organized as follows: 1)the de-construction of the biology discourse,2)the "cyborg" theory;and 3)the "companion species" theory.The first chapter combs through major threads of the concept of posthumanism,comparing two renderings of posthumanism in Chinese,“post-humanism” and“posthuman-ism”.“Posthuman-ism” forms the critical dimension of humanism and emphasizes the need to develop de-anthropocentrism;wheras “ posthuman-ism ”revolves aroud the task of deconstructing the concept of "human",more closely related to the topics of science and technology in our current era;and its theoretical significance offers momentum to the transcendence of the current humanist crisis theories.At last,this essay traces the topics and connotations involved in posthumanism,including anti-humanism,cultural posthumanism,philosophical posthumanism,post-human condition and transhumanism,and try to define the main conceptions of posthumanism.The second chapter examines Haraway’s deconstruction of biological discourses where she makes possible deconstruction of humanism theories.In her analysis of the biological discourses,she goes beyond the confines of definitions of “nature —culture” whilst blurring the boundary between human beings and animals.With a study backgroud in biology,Haraway is extremely sensitive to scientific discourse of which she utilizes the “Reflexivity” to deconstruct the conundrum of binary opposition she meets in humanities.Haraway regards biology as an interpretation system which blurs the line between science facts and fiction.Following this i will analyze Haraway’s interpretation of the primatological discourse,to reveal how Haraway broke the boundaries between human and animal,and between nature and culture.At last,i will explore in depth the intellectual connection between Haraway and Foucault.Haraway adopts Foucault’s theory at an level regarding the “death of man” and further contributes to the process of breaking the boundary between human and animal in biological discourses,served for an anti-anthropocentrist purpose,where her posthumanism lies.The third chapter emphasizes on the main topic of Haraway’s "cyborg" theory."Cyborg",a mixture of reality and fiction,entity and metaphor,which represents the "posthuman" subject,and it breaks the boundaries of human,animal and machine.I will start by tracing the theoretical source and research background of Haraway’s cyborg,that is,the cyborg originates from Haraway’s article the Cyborg Manifesto for feminism criticize;and the research background of cyborg is the "implosion" of science and technology.Then,we will analyze the connotations involved the texts of cyborg.Cyborg is a mixture of organism and machine,which stands for both reality and imagination,a hybrid of things that were once considered mutually excluded.Haraway believed that the formation of cyborg broke the boundaries between animals and human,between machines and organisms,and between the physical and non-physical.Finally,according to the connotation of cyborg,i summarized three characteristics of cyborg,which are embodiment,contingency and finiteness.Cyborg is the combination of technological products and human bodies,and is posthuman who affirms the materiality and finiteness reside in life.The fourth chapter discusses Haraway’s "companion species" theory.Haraway criticizes the relationship between human and animals within the traditional anthropocentrism epistemology context,proffering “companion species” theory to deconstruct the concept of "human beings" and "animals",which further reinforces her argument against anthropocentrism and turns towards the non-anthropocentrism.Then i will investigate the relevance between "companion species" theory and "cyborg" theory.The“companion species” theory is regarded as an extension and transcendence of the"cyborg" theory,effectively continuing the discussion of the posthuman.The significance of species within "companion species" breaks all rules and boundaries in and between species by integrating everything into the framework of "species".Haraway considers human and nonhuman alike belonging in the category of species,and thinks that human beings and animals are in a symbiotic relationship.The theory of"companion species" is thus a reflection and reconstruction of the relationship between human and animal,human and non-human.Finally,this chapter points out the non-anthropocentric critical dimension involved in Haraway’s "companion species"theory,in which she criticized the theory of "becoming-animal" by Deleuze and Gatari,and the theory of "the question of animal” by Derrida.