Paper short abstract:

This paper combines postphenomenological, feminist and cultural-historical theories in this exploration of posthuman learning, acknowledging that unpredictable and complex technologies play an ever larger part in our cultural activities and our conceptual abstractions.

Paper long abstract:

I explore the concept of learning (also methodologically) from the postphenomenological perspective of the posthuman. The majority of cognitive, behavioral and part of the constructionist learning theories operate with an autonomous individual learning in a world of separate objects. Technology is (if mentioned at all) understood as separate from the individual learner and perceived as tools. Learning theory has in general not been acknowledging materiality in their theorizing about what learning is - and have not yet tied learning theory to postphenomenological perspectives. Learning theory is I suggest the basic process that transform humans and have done so since Homo Sapiens began its long journey towards what many now perceive as the posthuman. This movement is increasingly merging the mechanics of robots with the organic human body. This is often taken to be moves towards posthumans, often without specifying what a human learner is. A new posthumanistic learning theory is needed to keep up with the transformations of human learning resulting from new technological experiences as well as new understandings of what it is to be human. I find is useful to combine postphenomenological, feminist and cultural-historical theories in this exploration of posthuman learning, acknowledging that unpredictable and complex technologies play an ever larger part in our cultural activities and our conceptual abstractions.