Extroduction : the irresistibility of the posthuman : questioning ‘new cultural theory’

Abstract

The foregoing essays suggest that after the revisiting of roads not taken by theory or retaken with a difference, there remains to consider the (ir)resistibility of post-theory. That which succeeds theory must, by definition, be irresistible. Yet the aura of inevitability collecting around that irresistibility might not be sufficient to prevent what succeeds upon theory from being, in fact, resistible. It is at least thinkable that the appeal of post-theory, if this ever were to materialize in the most straightforward of ways-in a form superseding theory-might after all not be very beguiling, both to theorists themselves but also to anti-theorists who, on the face of it, would not be expected to mourn the passing of theory. To explore this paradox further we have chosen to speak of one form of post-theory the momentum of which appears to be irresistible, and yet one whose rationale has been viewed with some consternation by both theorists and anti-theorists. We have chosen to speak of the posthuman, and shall be presenting its (ir)resistibility as exemplary not only of the (ir) resistibility of post-theory, but also as a warning that the readiness of theory to find reasons for not thinking its own passing is to be guarded against. The reasons why theory should bring to consciousness what it represses, together with the implications for its disciplinary status and practice once it does, are what will concern us.