After the Human

4-None

Special seminar taught by philosopher Mark C. Taylor. As the Anthropocene heats up, the possibility of human extinction grows. Today’s most pressing problems are not only scientific, technological, political, and economic, but also philosophical and spiritual. The foundation of the Anthropocene is the anthropocentric metaphysics that begins with Descartes and ends with Nietzsche. We will examine an alternative vision: the structural and operational logic of the coemergent and codependent webs that comprise our world, from the quantum and biochemical through bodily and ecological systems to plant, animal, human and “artificial” intelligence. What comes after the human? What might all of this have to do with what once was called God?