ICAS 2022 - 'Human, All Too Human: Posthumanism and the Anthropocene'
Virtual Conference in Arts & Science | Thursday 27th - Saturday 29th January 2022
Hosted by Southern Regional College, Newry Campus, Northern Ireland
Existence is entangled, symbiotic, hybrid. There are no clearly defined borders which allow fixed notions of being’ (Ferrando 2014, p.168). The growing turn away from Humanism, and thus ideas centring on human exceptionalism, arguably begins with Nietzsche and his concept of the Ubermensch but quickly develops towards the disavowal of a series of human constructions that whilst appearing to offer innate human truths, such as freewill, are, inevitably, deconstructed as being bolstered by non-human supplements such as writing, art and, technology – fundamental materials from which we derive our anthropocentric history. The posthuman begins with a pre-Humanist reflection: ‘what is human?’ and in our attempts to answer this question, we have come to revise our ontological individuality towards idea that acknowledge our existence amongst a network of interactions, species and landscapes. We are intra-agency, fluid, future potentials, and evermore, non-human.
Thus, ICAS 22, asks: Have we surpassed the time for manifestos for cyborgs (Haraway 1985) and evolved into a more inclusive ontological network of being?
Conference Programme & Online Booking
View the full conference programme and book your free tickets at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/icas-22-conference-posthumanism-and-the-anthropocene-tickets-242892988467
Registered attendees will receive a link to their registered email address, closer to the event.
Please note that due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, all conference papers will be delivered virtually.
Contact us
For further information or advice, please feel free to get in touch with Dr. Liz Finnigan (Course Director, BA Hons History and English Literature, SRC) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Keynote Speakers
Abby Jaques, MIT
Abby Everett Jaques, PhD '18, is a postdoctoral associate in MIT Philosophy and serves as the Ethics of AI Project Lead for the MIT Quest for Intelligence. She is also a Research Fellow in Digital Ethics at the Jain Family Institute, a think tank in New York. Her research is centered in moral and political philosophy and the philosophy of action — the areas where we ask, “What are we doing?” and "What should we do?" She is particularly interested in our relationship to technology and hopes to help society figure out what to do about AI before AI manages to decide for itself.
Rune Graulund, University of Southern Denmark
Associate Professor in American Literature and Culture (Department for the Study of Culture).