Human and Posthuman. A Merleau-Pontian Perspective

This article discusses the concepts of humanism and posthumanism from a Merleau-Pontian perspective. The Phenomenology of Perception contains a humanistic point of view, since the world and other beings are seen from an egological and human perspective. Merleau Ponty’s later works, instead, show a posthuman point of view, because of the notion of “flesh”: my body is made of the same stuff of the other bodies, so that they constitute a common being. Taking inspiration from this concept and from the notions of reversibility and divergence, it is argued that Merleau-Ponty suggests a new way to conceive humanism.