The Prosthetic Impulse ─ From a Posthuman Present to a Biocultural Future

Prosthesis -- pointing to an addition, replacement, extension, enhancement -- hasbecome something of an all-purpose metaphor for the interactions of body and technology. Concernedwith cybernetics, transplant technology, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, among othercultural and scientific developments, "the prosthetic" conjures up a posthuman condition. Inresponse to this, the 13 original essays in The Prosthetic Impulse reassert the phenomenological,material, and embodied nature of prosthesis without dismissing its metaphorical potential. Theyexamine the historical and conceptual edge between the human and the posthuman -- between flesh andits accompanying technologies. Rather than tracking the transformation of one into the other, theseessays address this borderline and the delicate dialectical situation in which it places us.Concentrating on this edge, the collection demonstrates how the human has been technologized andtechnology humanized.The eclectic approach taken by The Prosthetic Impulse draws on disciplinesranging from gender studies, philosophy, and visual culture to psychoanalysis, cybertheory, andphenomenology. The first section, "Carnality: Between Phenomenology and the Biocultural"concentrates on the organic, describing a body that, by its very materiality, is always and alreadyprosthetic. The second section, "Assembling: Internalization. Externalization," considers thetechnological qualities and peculiarities of prosthesis, raising questions about the ways in whichfilm, photography, AI, drawing, and literature -- representation itself -- can be situated withinthe framework of a prosthetic discourse. Taken together, the essays suggest that prosthesis ismaterial as well as metaphorical. "It is just a matter of pondering where the inelegant edges lie,"the editors write, "and living them most wonderfully."

Joanne Morra is Senior Lecturer in Historical and Theoretical Studies at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London. She is principal editor of the journal of visual culture.