The Embarrassment of Being Human by Benjamin Boysen - 9781032812298

The Embarrassment of Being HumanA Critical Essay on the New Materialisms and Modernity in an Age of Crisis\nAuthor(s): Benjamin Boysen\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781032812298, 978-1032812298\nSynopsis\nWith the message that everything in a sense is alive, thus allowing us to join forces with new politico-ethical communities stretching across human and nonhuman realms, the new materialisms have captivated the minds of many academics, artists, and intellectuals by stressing that it is time to return to a premodern mindset and discard modernity and its concepts of secularization, autonomy, and finitude.\n\nThe Embarrassment of Being Human not only demonstrates how these magical materialisms are beset by grave theoretical and practical inconsistencies and self-contradictions. It also demonstrates how their demand for humans to step down and allow for an emancipation of things qualifies the new materialisms as a me.