The end of lifelong learning: a post-human condition?

Abstract

This article explores the significance of theories of the post-human for lifelong learning. Drawing upon the works of Karen Barad and Bruno Latour, it suggests that education has focused on the learning subject as a result of an a priori assumption of a separation of matter from meaning, the object from the subject. By contrast, a post-human intervention points to the constant material entanglement of the human and non-human in the enactment of the world, and thus the problematic status of subjects and objects as separate from one another. This contrast is examined in relation to the distinction made by Latour between matters of fact/objects and matters of concern/things. The article suggests that a post-human condition could signal the end of lifelong learning and provide a rationale for responsible experimentation as a way of enacting an educational purpose.