Author Description
In recent decades there has been an explosion in work in the social and physical sciences describing the similarities between human and nonhuman as well as human and non-animal thinking. In this work, Ruth Miller argues that these types of phenomena are also useful models for thinking about the growth, reproduction, and spread of political thought and democratic processes. By shifting her level of analysis from the politics of self-determining subjects to the realm of material environments and information systems, Miller asks what might happen if these alternative, nonhuman thought processes become the normative thought processes of democratic engagement.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
How can the biological and informational processes of nonhuman entities serve as functional models for the development and expansion of democratic political thought? Ruth A. Miller, a scholar in political theory and law, examines the intersection of biological reproduction and information systems to challenge traditional anthropocentric political frameworks. She argues that by moving away from the focus on self-determining human subjects, political theorists can better understand the mechanisms of democratic growth through the lens of material environments and nonhuman systems.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of reproductive biology as a metaphor for political dissemination
- Examination of information systems and alphabetization as political structures
- Theoretical synthesis of social and physical science models
Scope Limits
- Does not provide a practical policy guide for democratic reform
- Does not focus on traditional human-centric political history
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars in the field of biopolitics identify this work as a challenging contribution to post-humanist political theory. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which requires a strong background in critical theory to fully synthesize the author's arguments.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
1900-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190638397
ISBN-13:
9780190638399
Philosophy
Biopolitics
Technology Studies
Sociology