Hans Jonas, Transhumanism, and What It Means to Live a "Genuine Human Life"

Hauskeller, Michael ORCID: 0000-0002-4452-4813 and Coyne, Lewis (2019) Hans Jonas, Transhumanism, and What It Means to Live a "Genuine Human Life". Revue Philosophique de Louvain, 117 (2). pp. 291-310.

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Abstract

In The Imperative of Responsibility, published in German in 1979 and in English five years later, Hans Jonas introduced a new moral imperative for the technological age that runs as follows: « Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life » (Jonas H., 1984, p. 11). This article has two objectives: firstly to clarify what it means to live, in Jonas' sense, a genuine human life, and secondly whether we can still live such a life if we radically enhance ourselves the way transhumanists tell us we should. We use two concepts from Jonas' thought to flesh out the notion of genuine humanity - the human condition and the idea of Man - and argue that human enhancement could indeed compromise both: a prospect to be avoided.

Item Type:	Article
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	07 Jan 2020 10:15
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 00:11
DOI:	10.2143/RPL.117.2.3287388
Related URLs:	Author
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3069413