Nietzsche’s Posthumanism
LISTEN: Edgar Landgraf in conversation with Christian Emden and Stefan Herbrechter on Nietzsche and posthumanism.
A timely and trenchant commentary on the centrality of Nietzsche’s thought for our time
Nietzsche’s Posthumanism explores the continuities and disagreements between Nietzsche’s philosophy and contemporary posthumanism. Focusing specifically on Nietzsche’s reception of the life sciences of his day and his reflections on technology, Edgar Landgraf provides fresh readings of Nietzsche and a critique of post- and transhumanist philosophies.
"Edgar Landgraf’s Nietzsche’s Posthumanism is a fantastic book. Through the lens of Nietzsche’s philosophy, Landgraf offers a fresh perspective on contemporary debates on posthumanism and its many variants, engaging with key thinkers in science and technology studies, new materialism, and biopolitics, including Foucault, Maturana and Varela, Deleuze and Guattari, Haraway, Braidotti and Esposito. Landgraf draws on thorough research and engagement with Nietzsche's texts, shedding new light on aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophy that are perhaps less known, such as his writing on insects. Nietzsche's Posthumanism asks what we can learn from swarms and hives about human ethics and politics. I highly recommend it!"—Vanessa Lemm, author of Homo Natura and Nietzsche's Animal Philosophy
While many posthumanists claim Nietzsche as one of their own, rarely do they engage his philosophy in any real depth. Nietzsche’s Posthumanism addresses this need by exploring the continuities and disagreements between Nietzsche’s philosophy and contemporary posthumanism. Focusing specifically on Nietzsche’s reception of the life sciences of his day and his reflections on technology—research areas as central to Nietzsche’s work as they are to posthumanism—Edgar Landgraf provides fresh readings of Nietzsche and a critique of post- and transhumanist philosophies.
Through Landgraf’s inquiry, lesser-known aspects of Nietzsche’s writings emerge, including the neurophysiological basis of his epistemology (which anticipates contemporary debates on embodiment), his concerns with insects and the emergent social properties they exhibit, and his reflections on the hominization and cultivation effects of technology. In the process, Landgraf challenges major commonplaces about Nietzsche’s philosophy, including the idea that his social theory asserts the rights of “the strong” over “the weak.” The ethos of critical posthumanism also offers a new perspective on key ethical and political contentions of Nietzsche’s writings.
Nietzsche’s Posthumanism presents a uniquely framed introduction to tenets of Nietzsche’s thought and major trends in posthumanism, making it an essential exploration for anyone invested in Nietzsche and his contemporary relevance, and in posthumanism and its genealogy.
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Nietzsche’s Posthumanism is a timely, lucid, and incisive commentary on the problematic centrality of Nietzsche’s thought for our time. It shows the continued potential that Nietzsche’s writings have for navigating a way through the dangers and excesses of contemporary posthumanist politics. In doing so, Edgar Landgraf’s critical posthumanist stance produces fresh readings of both Nietzsche and posthumanist philosophies.
Stefan Herbrechter, University of Heidelberg
Edgar Landgraf’s Nietzsche’s Posthumanism is a fantastic book. Through the lens of Nietzsche’s philosophy, Landgraf offers a fresh perspective on contemporary debates on posthumanism and its many variants, engaging with key thinkers in science and technology studies, new materialism, and biopolitics, including Foucault, Maturana and Varela, Deleuze and Guattari, Haraway, Braidotti and Esposito. Landgraf draws on thorough research and engagement with Nietzsche's texts, shedding new light on aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophy that are perhaps less known, such as his writing on insects. Nietzsche's Posthumanism asks what we can learn from swarms and hives about human ethics and politics. I highly recommend it!
Vanessa Lemm, author of Homo Natura and Nietzsche's Animal Philosophy
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Posthumanism and Its Nietzsches
2. Posthumanist Epistemology
3. Insect Sociality
4. Instinct, Will, and the Will to Power
5. Media Technologies of Hominization
6. Cultivating the Sovereign Individual
7. The Ethics and Politics of Nietzschean Posthumanism
Notes
Bibliography
Index
