Hi everyone my name is Francesca Ferrando and I’m a professor of philosophy at NYU's program of Liberal Studies. In this video, I’m going to focus specifically on the roots, genealogy, and philosophical genealogies of two movements: Posthumanism and Transhumanism.
Do they share the same philosophical roots? The answer is no. Posthumanism and Transhumanism do not share the same philosophical roots. On one side, the transhuman movement roots itself in the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment emphasized progress, reason, and of course science and technology. In the Transhumaist Declaration in 1998, the movement officially rooted itself in the philosophical tradition of the Enlightenment.
On the other side we have Posthumanism. The philosophical tradition of Posthumanism is post-modernism. In fact, the first time we actually find the term Posthumanism is in 1997, with the writing of Hassan, "Prometheus as Performer: Towards a Posthumanist culture?" Post-modernism was a movement that was very critical of ideas such as progress and reason. In post-modernism we find an intent to deconstruct the human. Notions such as progress are criticized because some scientific inventions can hardly be defined as progress. For instance, think of the atomic bomb and its destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Was that progress? Or was that regress? The notion of progress is something that is not taken for granted anymore. Moreover, reason and how it has been used historically to define some humans as less than others must be questioned. Reason was connected to the categories male, western, and civilized. So every human that did not fall under these categories were considered humans without reason, humans that were not as human as those humans who could be defined as rational beings.
So again, to ask the question, Do Posthumanism and Transhumanism share the same philosophical roots? The answer is no. Transhumanism is an approach that can be rooted in the Enlightenment, while the posthuman approach can be rooted in the philosophical tradition of post-modernism from the 70s to the 90s.
Thank you so much for your kind attention. You can find more information about these analytic questions on my website, www.posthuman.org.
Do they share the same philosophical roots? The answer is no. Posthumanism and Transhumanism do not share the same philosophical roots. On one side, the transhuman movement roots itself in the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment emphasized progress, reason, and of course science and technology. In the Transhumaist Declaration in 1998, the movement officially rooted itself in the philosophical tradition of the Enlightenment.
On the other side we have Posthumanism. The philosophical tradition of Posthumanism is post-modernism. In fact, the first time we actually find the term Posthumanism is in 1997, with the writing of Hassan, "Prometheus as Performer: Towards a Posthumanist culture?" Post-modernism was a movement that was very critical of ideas such as progress and reason. In post-modernism we find an intent to deconstruct the human. Notions such as progress are criticized because some scientific inventions can hardly be defined as progress. For instance, think of the atomic bomb and its destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Was that progress? Or was that regress? The notion of progress is something that is not taken for granted anymore. Moreover, reason and how it has been used historically to define some humans as less than others must be questioned. Reason was connected to the categories male, western, and civilized. So every human that did not fall under these categories were considered humans without reason, humans that were not as human as those humans who could be defined as rational beings.
So again, to ask the question, Do Posthumanism and Transhumanism share the same philosophical roots? The answer is no. Transhumanism is an approach that can be rooted in the Enlightenment, while the posthuman approach can be rooted in the philosophical tradition of post-modernism from the 70s to the 90s.
Thank you so much for your kind attention. You can find more information about these analytic questions on my website, www.posthuman.org.
