More-Than-Human Aesthetics - (Dis-Positions: Troubling Methods and Theory in Sts) by Melanie Sehgal & Alex Wilkie (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In a present marked by planetary crisis, a radical rethinking of aesthetics is necessary. This inspirational collection proposes a new way of thinking about aesthetics as fundamental to cultivating more liveable futures.

Drawing on the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Félix Guattari, the book develops aesthetics as central to all more-than-human forms of experience, including knowledge practices. Each contribution invites readers on an adventure to explore how this broader view of aesthetics can reshape areas including biomedicine, geological forensics, nuclear waste, race, as well as arts and education.

This is an agenda-setting contribution to understanding the significance of aesthetics in science and technology studies, as well social and cultural research more broadly.

Review Quotes

"Alfred N. Whitehead's daring protest against the 'bifurcation of nature' called for the liberation of aesthetics from human exceptionality. More-Than-Human Aesthetics turns this protest into a compelling multifaceted exploration. How would our practices be transformed if we recognized that none of them can be divorced from an aesthetic experience which humans share with all other inhabitants of the earth?" Isabelle Stengers, Université Libre de Bruxelles

About the Author

Melanie Sehgal is Director of Research at the Institute for Basic Research into the History of Philosophy at the University of Wuppertal.

Alex Wilkie is Professor of Design and Societies and a Director of the Design Societies Research Unit in the Department of Design, Goldsmiths, University of London.