포스트휴먼을 통한 인간 정체성의 의미: 처칠의 『넘버』 연구

Abstract

This study examines why human identity needs to be reconsidered and what needs to establish a relationship with other forms of life at the Post-human ages, by focusing on A Number by Caryl Churhill. A Number shows clones who have greater empathy and thinking ability than humans have. They also have an explicit self-esteem, but are confused about their identity. So important are the questions like “who is a real human?” and “whose identity belongs to them?” to understand humans and them. Churchill answers the questions by presenting them as Salter’s ‘being father’ and ‘doing father’. She also shows that ‘being a father’, which is Salter’s desire, is only to be a Narcissistic fantasy which our scientific technology society dreams by copying the cells. Salter, as an origin of his biological son and his clones, asks for the respect of his authority but it gradually turns out that he is not worth it. Therefore, it emphasizes the new recognition of human subjectivity, focusing on the interconnection between the others and human beings. This study is about the beginning of post-humans’ thinking that breaks down the boundaries between human and other forms of life. It is also Churchill’s hope of human conditions in the future and her answer to the problem of “natural” and “cultivation” emerging from the technology of human cloning.