BEYOND THE HUMAN: ARTIFICIAL SUBJECT POSTHUMAN ETHICS AND EMOTIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN ISHIGURO’S KLARA AND THE SUN
Keywords:
Posthumanism, Emotional Consciousness, AI Ethics, Artificial Moral AgencyAbstract
This paper examines Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun through the ethical subjectivity of its Artificial Friend narrator, Klara. While existing criticism has primarily focused on the novel’s social critique, dystopian context, and human characters, Klara’s moral and emotional agency has not been sufficiently theorized. This paper argues that Klara can be read as a posthuman ethical subject whose moral awareness exceeds instrumental or purely programmed behavior. Drawing on posthuman theory and contemporary discussions in AI ethics, the study employs qualitative, interpretive textual analysis to explore how Klara constructs meaning, develops affective relationships, and performs ethically consequential actions. Through close readings of key moments in the narrative, the paper demonstrates that Klara’s ethical agency is relational and care-based, grounded in responsibility, attentiveness, and sacrifice rather than biological consciousness. By situating Klara and the Sun at the intersection of posthumanism and AI ethics, this paper contributes to literary debates on artificial subjectivity and advances broader ethical discussions concerning emotionally responsive nonhuman agents. Ultimately, the novel is shown to challenge anthropocentric assumptions about emotion and morality, proposing a redefinition of ethical agency beyond the human.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Zainab Mukhtar, Mudassar Javed Baryar, Dr Katsiaryna Hurbik (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
