Ian Murray wrote:
>
>
> Taken to it's conclusion, "humanity" becomes a floating signifier,
> like "national interest"; any social kind can be disaggregated and
> decomposed.....
>
> "Mankind no longer exists" [Bruce Sterling]
>
Agreed. I did recently coin a slogan to the effect that Nominalism is a useful tool but a vicious master.
As to Humanity -- would it not be better to say, not that it no longer exists, but that it has not yet come into existence.
I was recently reading an account of fossil evidence that Neanderthals took care of their elderly and their disabled. That's over 50,000 years ago. Three thousand years ago we have the _Iliad_, notable for its celebration of the discovery that the death of an enemy can be tragic. Between 50,000 BP and 800 BCE there had been both advance and regression.
Now we note that many enemies (victims) of U.S. imperialism are nevertheless reacting to 9/11 as a tragedy, and extending their sympathy, while Bush/Blair etc are declaring war on a large portion of humanity. (Note: actually, Bush is doing nothing but bringing up to date John F. Kennedy's vicious inaugural address.) We have again both advance and regression from the Iliad.
I expect a good deal of blood will flow before "humanity" comes fully into existence.
Carrol