The human being as an engineering problem: Post-biological evolution, transhumanism and philosophical anthropology

Abstract

The issue of human nature is a perennial question ‐ as obstinate as it is old. Human reflection on the human condition is a defining feature of the experience of being human. In our time, the idea of post-biological evolution, the design paradigm of NBIC-convergence and transhumanism ‐ as a philosophy and a cultural movement ‐ all confront and confound our traditional notions of human nature. Unlike previous challenges to established images of the human being, this re-assessment of human nature has a practical aspect ‐ for technology now seems poised to finally achieve the age-old aspiration of human control over human nature. At its core, the idea of post-biological evolution assumes the human condition as the object of engineering. The problem of the human being thus becomes an engineering problem, approached from an engineering perspective, which ‐ in an essential way ‐ is design orientated. Hence, the idea of the human being that underlies the apprehension of ourselves as such an object of engineering, is of vital significance. As such, this paper argues for the relevance of philosophical anthropology within the post-biological discourse.