A Study Of Posthumanism In Galatea 2.2

Awarded several important prizes for his works,Richard Powers has become one of the most celebrated novelists in contemporary American literature.With a strong sense of social responsibility,Powers is committed to presenting the intellectual situation of the times,reflecting on social and cultural issues,and exploring the future of mankind.His novel Galatea 2.2 was born at a particular time of rapid technological development.It subtly blends two different discourses,namely,science and humanities,and thus redefines humanism in the information age.Based on the method of close reading and relevant theories of philosophy and sociology,this thesis aims to analyze Powers’ s understanding of the core concepts of traditional Western humanism,such as anthropocentrism,reason,and science.On the basis of reflection and critique of traditional humanist thought,this thesis examines Powers’ s vision of the future formation of human society and the posthumanist thoughts of interdependence and coexistence between technology,humans,and non-humans.In the end,the construction of a harmonious posthuman society will be explored as well.Richard Powers is deeply aware of ideological drawbacks of traditional Western humanism in its modern development.On the one hand,traditional Western humanism overstates human initiative and ignores human passivity,resulting in a one-sided approach to the world.On the other hand,the rationalism of traditional humanism has also been questioned.Each link of cognition may incur errors,and absolute truths are just ideal shores that can never be reached.Through demonstrating passivity of humans and limitations of reason,Richard Powers proves the self-referential nature of the world,criticizes traditional humanism,and further deconstructs anthropocentrism.With the development of high technology,Powers foreshadows an era of diversity and coexistence,simply because “we” are no longer “we”.“We” forms a multi-species posthuman community in which humans and non-humans coexist.Powers portrays the Cyborg,a new non-human species,as the companion that the human has longed for.The emergence of the posthuman discourse does not mean the end of the human,but the end of the human-centered era,marking the end of the supremacy and the exclusive arrogance of human beings.This vision of a harmonious posthuman society is conducive to the rescue of human beings from the dual dilemma of modernity and ethics,and to the achievement of a posthuman utopia in which nature,humans,and non-humans live together in harmony and mutual benefit.