RESEARCH PROJECT
Cognitive Posthumanism: AI and the Rewriting of Consciousness in Literary Narrative
Project Overview
This research project investigates how contemporary literary narratives represent artificial intelligence and machine cognition as forces that challenge traditional philosophical understandings of human consciousness. The study explores how literary texts imagine new forms of subjectivity emerging in a world increasingly shaped by technological systems and artificial intelligence.
The project is situated within the interdisciplinary field of posthuman literary studies, which examines how literature responds to transformations in the relationship between humans, technology, and the environment. By bringing together posthuman theory, cognitive literary studies, and affect studies, this research analyses how literary narratives destabilise anthropocentric assumptions about consciousness, agency, and ethical responsibility.
Contemporary fiction frequently portrays artificial intelligence not merely as a technological tool but as an entity capable of participating in moral reasoning, emotional interaction, and social life. These representations invite readers to reconsider long-standing philosophical distinctions between human and machine cognition. Through close textual analysis, this project investigates how literature engages with these questions and contributes to broader debates about the future of human identity in technologically mediated societies.
Research Focus
This project addresses several central research questions:
How do contemporary literary narratives represent artificial intelligence and machine consciousness?
In what ways do these narratives challenge traditional humanist definitions of cognition and subjectivity?
How does literature imagine emotional and ethical relations between humans and artificial agents?
How do narrative techniques such as focalisation and perspective create what may be described as a posthuman gaze?
Through these questions, the project explores how literature becomes a critical site for examining the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence and emerging technological realities.