Iconic Self

Human Uniqueness in the Age of Artificial Entities

AvSijia Wang,Brian Brock

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien T&T Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics

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Beskrivning

Is it still reasonable to believe in human uniqueness in the age of human-like AI and robots? This book provides an affirmative answer by defending our human uniqueness through inclusive human relationality, with a reference to the imago Dei.As relational creatures, we may feel deeply related to and connected with artificial entities. However, does this relation with machines qualify as a social relation or is it simply a relation with the shadow of ourselves? This book explores these topics by offering an interdisciplinary analysis of various relations that we have with artificial entities, complemented by multiple case studies.Wang deftly explains why human-like AI and robots cannot be considered as social “others”, through a phenomenological and theological understanding of alterity and human selfhood. Instead, this book offers an “iconic self” theory, drawing from a reading of Jean-Luc Marion. Ultimately, Wang expresses concern towards anthropomorphism in AI and robots, not as a natural tendency of the human mind, but as a human limitation in creating “idol” images of ourselves in AI and robots.To embrace our limitation as humans, we, ironically, need to embrace the incomprehensibility of our humanity.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-11-26
Mått:156 x 234 x 13 mm
Vikt:344 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:T&T Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics
Antal sidor:232
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9780567727435

Utforska kategorier

Religion: allmänt inom Filosofi och religion
Artificiell intelligens inom Data och IT

Mer om författaren

Sijia Wang recently completed their PhD in Theology & Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Recensioner i media

While scholarly analysis of generative AI and its societal impacts abounds, few humanists are as well situated as Sijia Wang to critically analyse how these disruptive technologies may reshape our relationships with both robots and one another. Whether guiding the reader through the continental philosophy that shaped Jean-Luc Marion’s conception of the idol and the icon or analysing human–technology interactions in robot theatre performance, Wang ably leads the reader into exciting new intellectual terrain, illuminating what our fascination with anthropomorphic technologies reveals about the human condition.

Innehållsförteckning

IntroductionPart I - Critical Survey of Anthropomorphism1. Before AI and Robots: Anthropomorphism, Idolatry and the Narcissistic Self 2. Anthropomorphism Applied to Social Robots: From Human Companions to New Social OthersPart II - Acting with the Embodied Other3. The Fabricated Anthropos and the (Quasi-)Otherness of Technology 4. Embodied Machine Others: Between a Human-like Body and a Like-human Body 5. Marion’s Idol and Techno-Idolatry6. The Self in Relation to the Other: Marion and the Iconic Human Selfhood 7. Death Masks and the Otherness of AI and RobotsConclusionBibliographyIndex