Nietzsche and Transhumanism:
is Artificial Enhancement a Nietzschean Option?
Keywords:
Transhumanism, Eternal Return, Dignity, MetamorphoseAbstract
This paper will look at what Nietzsche’s metamorphoses of the spirit can tell us about being human in light of artificial enhancement. It will argue that advancements in science including but not limited to: designer babies, immortality movements such as cryonics, and artificial intelligence, are veiled attempts to modify the human condition. Such attempts to modify the human condition can be viewed through the last metamorphose Nietzsche speaks of in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The metamorphose of the child who for Nietzsche is a new beginning, a game, a self-rolling wheel, a first movement, a holy yea is the driving force behind advances in artificial enhancement. This paper will argue that this is so by drawing parallels between the language of actors behind the artificial enhancement movement, and Nietzsche’s thought behind what the metamorphose of the child would mean for the human condition. The paper will argue that Nietzsche’s metamorphose of the child is a positive vision of the potential of human endeavours. The paper will conclude that artificial enhancement can be viewed through this metamorphose of spirit, insofar as its enhancements are taken to be advancements for humans; enhancement should enhance the human condition as opposed to overcoming the human condition.
References
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Aydin, Ciano, “The Posthuman As Hollow Idol: A Nietzschean Critique of Human Enhancement.” The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 42 (2017): 304-27.
Babich, Babette, “Nietzsche’s Post-Human Imperative: On the “All-Too-Human” Dream of Transhumanism.” The Agonist,www.neitzschecircle.com, 2012.
Bostrom, Nicholas Roache, Rebecca, Ethical Issues in Human Enhancement, London: Pelgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Bostrom, Nicholas, Transhumanist Values,www.nickbostrom.com, April 2001.
Bostrom, Nicholas, “Human Genetic Enhancements: A Transhumanist Perspective.” The Journal of Value Inquiry 37 (2003): 493-506.
Bostrom, Nicholas, “Transhumanist Values”, Ethical Issues for the Twenty-First Century, www.nickbostrom.com, 2005.
Bostrom, Nicholas, “A History of Transhumanist Thought.” Journal of Evolution and Technology (April 2005): 1-30.
Bostrom, Nicholas, “In Defence of Posthuman Dignity.” Bioethics 19:3 (2005): 202-14.
Bostrom, Nicholas, Dignity and Enhancement,www.nickbostrom.com, 2007.
Condorcet, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Sketch For a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1979.
Cryanoski, David, “CRISPR Gene-Editing Tested in a Person for the First Time.” Nature 539 (2016): 479.
Ettinger, Robert, The Prospect of Immortality. New York: Doubleday, 1964.
Franklin, Benjamin, et al., Mr. Franklin: A Selection from his Personal Letters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1956.
Fukuyama, Francis, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.
Fukuyama, Francis, "Transhumanism", Foreign Policy, September/October 2004.
Glover, Jonathan, What Sort of People Should There Be?. London: Pelican, 1984.
Habermas, Jürgen, The Future of Human Nature. Cambridge: Polity, 2003.
Huxley, Julien, Religion without Revelation. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1927.
Kass, Richard Leon, Life, Liberty and Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics. San Francisco. Encounter Books, 2002.
Kass, Richard Leon, “Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Perfection.” The New Atlantis 1 (2003): 9-28.
Kolnai, Aurel, “Dignity.” Philosophy 51 (1976): 251-271.
Mirandola, Giovanni Pico della , Oration on the Dignity of Man, Chicago: Gateway Editions, 1956.
More, Max, “Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy.” Extropy 6 (1990): 6-12.
More, Max, “The Overhuman in the Transhumanism.” Journal of Evolution and Technology 21 (2010): 1-4.
More, Max, The Philosophy of Transhumanism. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, Inc, 2013.
Müller-Lauter, Wolfgang, Nietzsche: His Philosophy of Contradictions and the Contradictions of his Philosophy. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1971.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Will to Power. New York, Random House, 1968.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Gay Science. New York: Random House,
1974.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. London: Penguin, 2003.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Antichrist. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2005.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Antichrist. Gutenberg EBook, 2006.
Oeppen, Jim Vaupel,W. James, “Broken Limits to Life Expectancy.” Science 296 (2002): 1029-1031.
Pearson, Ansell Keith, Viroid Life. Perspectives on Nietzsche and the Transhuman Condition. London: Routledge, 1997.
Porter, Allen, “Bioethics and Transhumanism.” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 42 (2017): 237-260.
Savulescu, Julian, Genetic Interventions and Ethics of Enhancement of Human Beings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Sorgner, Lorenz Stefan, MetaphysicsWithout Truth. On the Importance of Consistency within Nietzsche’s Philosophy. Milwaukee: University of Marquette Press, 2007.
Sorgner, Lorenz Stefan, “Nietzsche, The Overhuman, and Transhumanism.” Journal of Evolution and Technology 20:1 (March 2009): 29-42.
World Transhumanist Association, Transhumanist FAQ, World Transhumanist Association, 2016.
Wade, N., “Scientists seek ban on method of editing the human genome.” The New York Times. Accessed November 14, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/science/biologists-call-for-halt-to-gene-editing-techniquein-humans.html.
Walker, Mark, “Prolegomena to Any Future Philosophy.” Journal of Evolution and Technology 10 (March 2002).
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Published
2019-11-24
How to Cite
Sonne, M. J. (2019). Nietzsche and Transhumanism:: is Artificial Enhancement a Nietzschean Option?. Trinity Postgraduate Review Journal, 18(1), 19–37. Retrieved from https://ojs.tchpc.tcd.ie/index.php/tpr/article/view/1301
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