Persisting with the Human

This response considers how Thomas Dumm's text, "On the Persistence of the Human," subtly probes the hesitations, discomforts, and uncertainties that mark the human condition. It argues that the framing of Dumm's essay—the situation between accepting and rejecting certain theoretical voices and traditions—is key to the author's claims about the "persistence of the human." It seeks to show how Dumm's text performs its author's suggestion not just that the future of humanity is in question, but that humanity is only sustained, can only persist, where it is cared for with sensitivity to its constitutive fragility.