Hayden White’s Anthropocentric Posthumanism

Abstract

This article reflects on Hayden White’s essay “Posthumanism and the Liberation of Humankind” (2000) and indicates its relevance for the current critique of anthropocentrism and on-going discussions about human agency, the non-human condition and posthumanism. It revisits White’s interest in antihumanism, existentialism, the work of “unbinding” humans from the burden of history and their humanity and the liberating potential of “deonerate art” (White’s term). It problematizes Sartre’s well-known statement and asks: “is man really nothing other than what he makes of himself?”

Keywords

• antihumanism
• anthropocentrism
• existentialism
• human agency