Being and Not Being: On Posthuman Temporality

By Richard Iveson

Drawing on sources as diverse as Gilbert Simondon, Niels Bohr, Catherine Malabou and Quentin Meillassoux, Being and Not Being proposes an innovative 'posthuman' ontology that deconstructs the distinction between 'living' and 'nonliving' so as to account for the nonlinear emergence of radical new ways and forms of being. Richard Iveson finds support for his position in a number of significant recent developments within vastly divergent fields of enquiry, such as the newfound plasticity of neuronal conduits and the nonlinearity of cell recapacitation; in challenges to Darwinian evolution predicated upon empirical evidence showing symbiosis and collaboration as the motor of change; in Manuel DeLanda's notion of 'meshwork' in which catalysts produce accelerating feedback loops resulting in nonlinear phase changes; and in the bizarre temporality of the quantum leap that explodes the entire foundation of classical physics. Radically rewriting not only deconstruction, but also contemporary notions of autopoiesis, compassion, memory, and auto-affection along the way, Iveson ultimately argues that, in our posthuman age, a refusal to privilege 'life' over 'nonlife' is the only possible recourse for a rigorously posthumanist ethics.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 178348702X
• ISBN13: 9781783487028
• Release Date: August 2017
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary