Diverging Paths: Transhumanist and Posthumanist Imaginations of Human Destiny in the Age of Technology

doi:10.15936/j.cnki.1008-3758.2024.05.004

Abstract

Abstract: Contemporary technological developments such as artificial intelligence and bioengineering have extended the self-understandings of human beings， but various forms of transhumanism and posthumanism born from the collision and fusion of traditional humanism and emerging technologies， and their complex relationships， have become great obstacles to it. A new philosophical genealogy of humanism that clearly distinguishes transhumanism from posthumanism can be constructed with anthropocentrism， anti-anthropocentrism， and non-anthropocentrism as its core. Anthropocentrism can be divided into humanistic transhumanism， pessimistic technological posthumanism， and technological transhumanism; anti-anthropocentrism exists in the form of both humanistic posthumanism and humanistic-technological posthumanism; and non-anthropocentrism manifests itself mainly in the form of optimistic technological posthumanism. The three perspectives are both antagonistic and intrinsically related， and clarifying their differences and connections will provide a basic conceptual framework for in-depth thinking about the future and destiny of the mankind.

Key words: technological age; transhumanism; posthumanism; neohumanism; anthropocentrism

CLC Number:

N031

SU Chensheng. Diverging Paths: Transhumanist and Posthumanist Imaginations of Human Destiny in the Age of Technology[J]. Journal of Northeastern University(Social Science), 2024, 26(5): 23-32.

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