French 363 - Posthuman Fictions: Science and the Self in Contemporary French Literature and Philosophy

As we find ourselves today in a world on fire, one wracked by pollution, overconsumption, and habitat destruction, it has become difficult to avoid serious doubt about the nature and future of humanity. How did we get here? How can we and the earth make it out alive? For writers and philosophers working at the intersection of the sciences and the humanities, the answer to these questions has to do with our self-concept as human beings. To save the planet, we must query our ordinary understanding of the human and embrace nonhuman forms of subjectivity: we must become posthuman. Viewing human life through the anti-anthropocentric lenses of physics, biology, or systems theory will correct the distortions of anthropocentrism, provide us with a clearer view of our situation on Earth, and even furnish new forms of ethics. Yet how can we reconcile the nonhuman perspective of science with the human perspective of ordinary life? What would it be like to live a posthuman life? We will explore these questions by reading French theories of the posthuman alongside posthuman fictions, considering in the process what it might mean to see humans as matter in motion, as animals, or as networks of becoming.

Class conducted in French. For each week of class, students should expect to spend six hours reading outside of class.

Requisite: One of the following—FREN 207, 208 or the equivalent.  Spring 2025: Professor Dominick.

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Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Speaking, reading, writing, and aural comprehension in languages other than English, textual analysis, formal and informal presentations, written work, independent research, creative work.