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The essay argues that this generic usage produces methodological and theoretical confusion. It examines key distinctions and shared areas of signification between posthumanism and transhumanism, proposing posthumanism as a more comprehensive standpoint for reflecting on possible futures.","See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: [https://www. researchgate. net/publication/304333989](https://www. researchgate. net/publication/304333989)  \nPosthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations  \nArticle · March 2014  \nCITATIONS 269  \nREADS  \n16,686  \n1 author:  \nFrancesca Ferrando  \nNew York University  \n17 PUBLICATIONS 619 CITATIONS  \nSEE PROFILE  \nAll content following this page was uploaded by Francesca Ferrando on 23 June 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.  \nVolume 8, No 2, Fall 2013 ISSN 1932-1066  \nPosthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms  \nDifferences and Relations  \nFrancesca Ferrando  \nColumbia University  \n[ff@theposthuman.org](ff@theposthuman.org)  \nAbstract: \"Posthuman\"has become an umbrella term to refer to a variety of different movements and schools of thought, including philosophical, cultural, and critical posthumanism; transhumanism (in its variations of extropianism, liberal and democratic transhumanism, among others); the feminist approach of new materialisms; the heterogeneous landscape of antihumanism, metahumanism, metahumanities, and posthumanities. Such a generic and all-inclusive use of the term has created methodological and theoretical confusion between experts and non-experts alike. This essay will explore the differences between these movements, focusing in particular on the areas of signification shared by posthumanism and transhumanism. In presenting these two independent, yet related philosophies, posthumanism may prove a more comprehensive standpoint to reflect upon possible futures.  \nKeywords: Posthumanism; transhumanism; antihumanism; metahumanism; new materialism; technology; future;  \nposthuman; transhuman; Cyborg.  \nIntroduction  \nIn contemporary academic debate, \"posthuman\" has become a key term to cope with an urgency for the integral redefinition of the notion of the human, following the onto-epistemological as well as scientific and bio-technological developments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The philosophical landscape, which has since developed, includes several movements and schools of thought. The label \"posthuman\" is often evoked ina generic and all-inclusive way, to indicate any of these different perspectives, creating methodological and theoretical confusion between experts and nonexperts alike. \"Posthuman\" has become an umbrella term to include (philosophical, cultural, and critical) posthumanism, transhumanism (in its variants as  \nThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution, NonCommercial, No Derivatives license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction of this article in any medium, provided the author and the original source are cited and the article is not modified without permission of the author.  \nextropianism, liberal and democratic transhumanism, among other currents), new materialisms (a specific feminist development within the posthumanist frame), and the heterogeneous landscapes of antihumanism, posthumanities, and metahumanities. The most confused areas of signification are the ones shared by posthumanism and transhumanism. There are different reasons for such confusion. Both movements arose more specifically in the late Eighties and early Nineties,1 with  \n1 I should clarify that both movements can be traced earlier than that. The closest reference to transhumanism as the current philosophical attitude can be found in Julian Huxley, \"Transhumanism,\" in Julian Huxley, New Bottles for New Wine: Essays, London: Chatto & Windus 1957, pp. 13-7. In postmodern literature, the terms\"posthuman\" and \"posthumanism\" first appeared in  \nFrancesca Ferrando, \"Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations,\"  \nExistenz 8/2 (2013), 26-32 First posted 3-4-2014, rev. 3-13-2014  \nPosthumanism,","cbCaikIITURQYpoH","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikIITURQYpoH","pdf",488531,3,1,8,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n# Transhumanism","[{\"question\":\"Why does the term “posthuman” create confusion in academic debates?\",\"answer\":\"The essay explains that “posthuman” is often used generically to cover multiple movements and schools, blending distinct theoretical roots and perspectives and leading to methodological and theoretical confusion among experts and non-experts.\"},{\"question\":\"How are posthumanism and transhumanism related according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"They share some areas of signification, especially a view of the human as non-fixed and mutable, yet they 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