Flourishing Thought: Democracy in an Age of Data Hoards

Challenging the posthumanist canon which celebrates the pre-eminenceof matter, Ruth Miller, in Flourishing Thought argues that what nonhumansystems contribute to democracy is thought. Drawing on recent feministtheories of nonhuman life and politics, Miller shows that reproductionand flourishing are not antithetical to contemplation and sensitivity.After demonstrating processes of life and processes of thought areindistinguishable, Miller finds that four menacing accumulations ofmatter and information-global surveillance, stored embryos, humanclones, and reproductive trash-are politically productive rather thanthreats to democratic politics. As a consequence, she questions theusefulness of individual rights such as privacy and dignity, conteststhe value of the rational metaphysics underlying human-centeredpolitical participation, and re-evaluates the gender relations that derivefrom this type of participation. Ultimately, in place of these humancenteredstructures, Miller posits a more meditative mode of democraticengagement.

Miller’s argument has shattering implications for the debates overthe proper use and disposal of embryonic tissue, alarms about datagathering by the state and corporations, and other major ethical, social,and security issues.