Interpretation of the Nature of Dementia in a Context of Humanism and Transhumanism Polemic

Abstract

The article examines the phenomenon of dementia from the point of view of two approaches: humanism and transhumanism. The psychological and philosophi­cal interpretation of this neurodegenerative disease is given by the example of works of such philosophers and scientists as: I. Kant, M. Heidegger, E. Hus­serl, Aristotle, V.E. Frankl, D.J. Chalmers, K. Charmaz, T. Kitwood, M.P. Lauren­tiu, E. van Wijngaarden, F. Svenaeus, Ch. Taylor, S. Post, A. Giddens, E. Cassel, C. Gilleard. The analysis of general philosophical terms “mind”, “consciousness”, “intentionality”, “human”, “human nature”, “image of human”, “nothingness” is carried out. The work examines the prospects for the treatment and prevention of dementia using the achievements of NBIС-technologies, as well as the meth­ods proposed by transhumanism: the creation of an exocortex, genetic editing, digitization of consciousness, cyborgization of an individual, cloning, organ grow­ing and other methods. Inseparable from neurodegenerative and mental diseases, the phenomena of stigmatization, as well as nothingness (nihilation as a process) in the Heideggerian sense of the word, are studied. The criticism of transhuman­ism and humanism is consistently carried out in relation to the effectiveness of treatment of mental illness in general and dementia in particular. The right of transhumanism to invade the sphere of moral and ethical imperatives, medical practice and deontology, as well as human self-identity and rationality is as­sessed. The understanding of such phenomena as pain, illness, suffering and death is carried out in the context of a discussion between the humanistic para­digm and the transhumanistic vision of the world. The process of renewal of hu­manism and the transition to antihumanism or metahumanism are assumed to be the determining factors in the further development of philosophical thought, in its mutual influence on science, medicine and technology.