The Missing Post-Humanism: A Philosophical Posthuman Study of Don DeLillo’s Zero K and William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition

Abstract

In the Anthropocene, humans have established an uninhabitable ecosystem. His insatiable desire for resources and possessions has led to this catastrophe. The posthuman studies critically examine the human-nonhuman divide through technology, biology, and culture. The inquiry raises ethical and ontological questions about human enhancement, artificial intelligence, and the social effects of new technologies. Posthumanism envisions a complex and interdependent world. Francesca Ferrando believes posthumanism threatens the anthropocentric worldview. Posthumanism reconsiders human identity, agency, and existence in light of emerging technologies and complex human-nonhuman relationships. It emphasises inclusivity, connectivity, and subtlety in human experience. She demonstrates post-humanism, post-anthropocentrism, and post-dualism in her seminal idea of ‘Philosophical Posthumanism’. This study analyses Don DeLillo and William Gibson's science fiction novels to reconsider “the human.” In this paper, Don DeLillo's Zero K and William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, Ferrando's ‘philosophical posthumanism’ and ‘posthumanism’ based on post-dualism, post-anthropocentrism and post-humanism views are compared. Ferrando's seminal work on 'Philosophical Posthumanism' expands on the above argument. This study seeks to investigate the absence of Ferrando's concept of post-humanism in selected literary works and the need for interdependence with other non-human species.