Theories of Disembodiment

This course has three main objectives: Introduce students to various fields considering and problematizing the notion of disembodiment, introduce students to historically important theories of disembodiment, predominantly from the 20th century, interfacing theories and practices of disembodiment.

In a world brimming with and defined by uncertainties – climate change, global pollution, natural resource exhaustion, bodily extension and evolution, neural research, anthropocentric apocalypticism, anthropocenic desperation – the human condition is redefined and redrafted in the humanities in unprecedented scales. A plethora of theories about the human and her embodiment have been on the offer for nearly half a century now, but the majority of them miss the mark of the contemporary: What should we do with ourselves when our selves are finally “liberated” by embodiment? This is no longer science fiction, but while sound research is being done in what Obama called the Decade of the Brain, theorists have shown disparate attempts to come to terms with a newfound disjunction between the human self and her body. In this course we will try to systematize such disparate theories and construct various “mini canons” of theories of disembodiment by looking at divergent fields.

The course will walk the students through various fields and problems: from medical humanities, contemporary theologies and media theory, from late antique authors via analytic philosophy (of religion too) to postmodern and speculative philosophies and theories, from illness and health to arguments from disembodiment via the solar death argument to nemocentrism and extinctionsim. We will look at all these bundles of theories in an often literal sense, evading speculative imaginaries and taking seriously the question: What will happen when we really become disembodied? Are we prepared for this possible human condition?