Sartre and Posthumanist Humanism

142 Pages·2012·7.692 MB·English

by  Butterfield, Elisabeth C., Sartre, Jean-Paul

Beyond Humanism: Trans- and PosTHumanism
JenseiTs des Humanismus: Trans- und PosTHumanismus
Edited by / Herausgegeben von Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
Editorial Board:
H. James Birx
Irina Deretic
James J. Hughes
Andy Miah
Domna Pastourmatzi
Evi Sampanikou
Vol. / Bd. 4
PETER LANG
Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Bern · Bruxelles · New York · Oxford · Wien
Sartre and Posthumanist
Humanism
Elizabeth Butterfield
PETER LANG
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the
Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is
available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Cover Design:
© Olaf Gloeckler, Atelier Platen, Friedberg
Cover image:
“Aquarius”, printed with kind permission
of Joana Coccarelli.
ISSN 2191-0391
ISBN 978-3-631-61675-8
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2012
All rights reserved.
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www.peterlang.de
For Matilda and Charlie

Contents
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... 9
Introduction ..................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 1: Materiality in Human Existence: The Practico-Inert, Scarcity,
and Needs ....................................................................................... 27
Chapter 2: Reconceptualizing the Individual and the Social:
The Theory of Objective Spirit ...................................................... 41
Chapter 3: The Co-Constitution of the Individual and the Social .................. 63
Chapter 4: Problems and Possibilities for Human Relationships .................... 81
Chapter 5: The Posthuman Condition and Difference:
The Nature of Social Identities ...................................................... 99
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 129
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 133
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Acknowledgements
You’ve likely heard the proverb, “it takes a village to raise a child.” Well, taking
seriously the claim that the social enables individual praxis, I have come to feel
that it also takes a village to write a book. I know that I have benefited from the
support of so many people in so many different circles of life through the years,
and when I consider this, I am warmed, humbled, and incredibly grateful.
In particular, I would like to thank two of my former professors and mentors
whom I am also grateful to call friends, Tom Flynn and Cindy Willett. I have
learned so much from their work as philosophers as well as from their personal
examples, and I thank them for their great generosity. Of course, any and all
shortcomings of this work are mine alone. I would also like to thank the members
of the North American Sartre Society, who warmly welcomed me when I was
just a young graduate student, and who have provided a wonderful community
of friends and scholars in the many years since. And I thank my colleagues at
Georgia Southern University, and especially my department chair David Dudley,
who have all been consistently supportive as I have attempted to balance my life
as a professor and scholar with my life as a mother.
Though I never would have guessed that I would settle down among the cy-
press swamps and cotton fields of the rural southern U.S., my family and I have
found such a wonderful and supportive progressive community in Statesboro,
Georgia. I am so thankful for this new home and for the many friendships here
that nurture and sustain us. I am also especially grateful to the many ladies who
have volunteered to come over and play with our new baby for a little bit while
this book was in progress.
Near the conclusion of this project, my partner and co-parent, Hans-Georg Er-
ney, spent many fun but exhausting days on his own with our two young children
so that I could have the time and space I needed to write. I thank you, Hansi, with
all of my heart, for your love and support, for your editing prowess, and for your
inexhaustible wit. I am also grateful to my children for bringing me such joy, and
for reminding me every day with their grins and giggles, in the words of Pierre
Hadot, “n’oublie pas de vivre.” Though of course, when they say it, it sounds more
like “weee!”
Much of the initial writing of this manuscript was done in the home of Kirsten
Erney, at a window overlooking her garden below. Through her living example
she taught me a great deal about the connection of the individual and the social,
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about the good life, and about the importance of frische Luft. This book, and my
life, bear the mark of her enduring presence.
Finally, it may seem odd, but I would like to express my indebtedness to and
gratitude for Sartre’s philosophy itself. For more than half of my life, I have been
inspired by Sartre’s call to create a meaningful life and to take responsibility for
making our world a better place. And now in my teaching, I have the great joy of
returning to these texts anew each semester as I introduce them to my students.
As my colleague Bill Eaton keeps reminding me, we have one of the best jobs in
the world!
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