Jonathan Swift and the Cartesian Cyborg: The Possibilities and Limits of Posthumanism

Abstract

Abstract:Exploring Swift's satire through the lens of posthumanism provides a vital perspective on one of his key articulations of human failure: that errors in modern thinking can be traced to the mechanistic philosophy of Descartes, in particular to his notion of the body as machine, even if this body is of divine construction and to which a rational soul has been united…. Because this idea runs through forty years of Swift's oeuvre, I have opted in this essay to treat his texts in non-chronological fashion, aiming to develop a deeper understanding of Swift's hostility to Descartes and simultaneously to demonstrate the rich possibilities for new interpretations of Swift offered by posthumanism.