ABSTRACT
The disconnection thesis offers a clear ontological analysis of the idea of the posthuman, the most important feature of which is that it leaves the nature of posthumans open. Unlike Aristotle's approach, the autonomous systems approach (ASA) does not require purposes to be fixed by invariant forms or essences transcending the individual systems that instantiate them. The reconciliation of ASA with assemblage theory allows us to respond tersely to T2 in short order. Intrinsic teleology holds that entities have their purposes or functions essentially. The metaphysics of functional autonomy allows an expansion of the schematic characterization of posthumans given in the disconnection thesis consistent with massive multiple realizability. Darwinism might appear to save the day by positing a real design process to account for the ubiquity of teleology. Thus according to this ontological model, intensities such as fitness, temperature and chemical gradients are the engines that drive the emergence of form in natural and social systems.
