The Octopus and Posthumanism

Why It Shouldn’t Be a Mascot

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6437871
AutoresAnton Vandevoorde (0000-0003-2535-879X, Ghent University Hospital, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume9
Fascículo1
Páginas112-122
Data de publicação2025-09-01
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Posthuman Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2471-4461 • E-ISSN: 2472-4513
EditoraThe Pennsylvania State University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5325/jpoststud.9.1.0112
OpenAlexW7083287012
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas17

Octopuses have become increasingly prominent in both popular culture and academic discourse. Many posthumanist scholars adopt them as symbolic figures representing non-anthropocentric modes of being and cognition. This article critically explores the growing fascination with octopuses within posthuman scholarship, questioning whether the octopus is a suitable symbol for the theoretical and political aims of posthumanism. Through an analysis of octopus representations in three documentaries, this article highlights key intellectual challenges facing posthumanism, including the unintended reintroduction of Cartesian dualisms, individualism, and a naturalist mode of identification, as well as the exoticization of nonhuman life. These issues emerge when posthuman approaches rely on superficial agential fixes to escape anthropocentrism. The octopus—or any single mascot—as a symbol for posthumanism fails to capture the plurality of ontological possibilities that posthumanism seeks. To foster better and less oppressive descriptions of the world, posthumanism must remain committed to its foundational principles of diffracted thought and ontological diversity

Key (lock · Mascot · octopus (software · Posthuman · Posthumanism · Sketch · Symbol (formal · Transhumanism · Geodetic Measurements and Engineering Structures · Geological Formations and Processes Exploration · Karst Systems and Hydrogeology

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