The Posthuman Condition

Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics of Biotechnological Challenges

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Mads Rosendahl Thomsen, Jacob Wamberg, Kasper LippertRasmussen, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Mads Rosendahl Thomsen, Jacob Wamberg, Kasper LippertRasmussen, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Mads Rosendahl Thomsen, Jacob Wamberg

• Publisher: Aarhus University Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9788779345706
• eBook ISBN: 9788771240696
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Ethics in Medicine

If biotechnology can be used to "upgrade" humans physically and mentally, should it be used at all? And, if so, to what extent? How will biotechnology affect societal cohesion? Can the development be controlled, or is this a Pandora's box that should remain closed? These are but a few of the perplex questions facing scientists as a result of the increasing ability of technology to change biology and, in turn, profoundly change human living conditions. This development has created a new posthuman horizon that will influence contemporary life and politics in a number of ways. The Posthuman Condition addresses the challenges of: - Imagining a society where the properties of humans have shifted radically - Assessing the scope of deploying technologies that are already underway - Basing decisions on an ethical foundation that does not entail a concept of human nature - Ascertaining the types of political action that can and should be taken in the face of this situation - The anthology brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines: biotechnology, medicine, ethics, politics, and aesthetics, and among contributors are Francis Fukuyama, Julian Savulescu, Maxwell Mehlman, John Harris and Chris Hables Gray.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Colophon
• Contents
• Posthuman Horizons and Realities: Introduction
• Notes on contributors
• part I
• Tech nological scenarios
• 1 Cyborging the Posthuman: Participatory Evolution
• 2 How Close Are We to Being Able to Achieve the Transhumanist Vision?
• 3 Genetics – It Just Got Personal
• 4 The Medicine of the Future – Live Long and Prosper?
• part II
• Ethical dilemmas
• 5 Post-What? (And Why Does It Matter?)
• 6 Treating Symptoms Rather Than Causes? On “Enhancement” and Social Oppression
• 7 A Liberal View on Liberal Enhancement
• Part III
• Artistic responses
• 8 Three Ways of Change: The New Human in Literature
• 9 Artistic Consequences of Tech nology Insinuating Itself into the Human Body
• 10 Dehumanizing Danto and Fukuyama: Towards a Post-Hegelian Role for Art in Evolution
• Part IV
• Political possibilities
• 11 Agency or Inevitability: Will Human Beings Control Their Tech nological Future?
• 12 Biological Egalitarianism: A Defence
• 13 Enhancing Equality
• Index