Reclaiming Humanistic Agency in the Age of Algorithms: Toward a Posthuman Pedagogy of the Humanities
Reclaiming Humanistic Agency in the Age of Algorithms: Toward a Posthuman Pedagogy of the Humanities

Summary/Abstract: Within the context of accelerating digital transformation, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has redefined the epistemic and ethical foundations of the humanities. The algorithmic turn challenges the traditional role of humanistic inquiry, raising questions about interpretation, creativity, and meaning in a technologically mediated world. This article explores how posthuman pedagogy can reclaim humanistic agency in the age of algorithms. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from posthumanism (Braidotti, Haraway) and metamodernism (Vermeulen & van den Akker), it argues that AI does not signal the decline of the humanities but their evolution toward a relational and ethically responsive practice. The study identifies three interrelated competencies – algorithmic literacy, digital empathy, and critical co-agency – as essential pillars for a transformative humanities curriculum. These competencies enable learners to engage critically and ethically with intelligent systems, interpret algorithmic processes as cultural texts, and act responsibly within distributed cognitive environments. Beyond its theoretical contribution, the article also addresses significant ethical and socio-cultural concerns, including algorithmic bias, epistemic injustice, and the need for reflexive digital ethics in higher education. It advocates for a metamodern orientation that balances skepticism with hope and critique with reconstruction. The conclusion emphasizes that the humanities must not resist technological mediation but reinterpret it as an opportunity for ethical imagination. Posthuman pedagogy thus envisions education as a co-creative process between human and algorithmic intelligences, grounded in empathy, reflection, and moral responsibility.

• Details
• Contents