From Exclusion to Care: Rethinking the Human in Klara and the Sun.

In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro envisions a dystopian future of civilizational collapse while probing alternatives for survival. He critiques the humanist tradition that defines the "human" through a hierarchy privileging reason--a logic that has propelled progress but also fueled destruction through exclusion. In the novel, transhumanism intensifies this destructive logic embedded in humanism, reducing both nonhuman and human life to disposable resources through new technologies. Against this trajectory, Ishiguro urges the rejection of hierarchical humanism and the recognition of the otherness within humanity itself. By rendering the human--nonhuman boundary fluid, he calls for abandoning exclusionary practices that perpetuate destruction. Through Klara--an AT who extends care across boundaries--he shows that survival depends on cultivating interdependence and conditions of coexistence. The ideal of the self-sufficient, isolated individual, sustained by exclusion, proves a path to self-destruction. In its place, Ishiguro proposes a "relational subjectivity" rooted in mutual understanding, shared vulnerability, and active care as the fragile but necessary ground for renewing hope in Earth's survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]