Posthuman – Postnature? Transhumanism and Environmental Ethics

• Authors: Bardziński Filip
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The author proposes a set of possible objections and amendments to the notion of transhumanism that can be made from the standpoint of environmental ethics. The transhumanist movement, as it is developed by such researchers as Nick Bostrom, Ingmar Persson, Julian or Savulescu, is devoted to identifying the best ways and measures of utilizing the scientific knowledge of human biology in order to allow people overcoming the limits of their current biological condition. However, such project raises several moral, ethical, political, and economical issues. It is worthwhile – in the author’s opinion – to broaden the discussion over transhumanism by including environmental issues, raised by such thinkers as Aldo Leopold or Paul W. Taylor. The author argues for a radical concept of enhancement – in opposition to Nicholas Agar’s “moderate enhancement”. The author believes that by introducing the Taylorian concept of “respect for nature”, it is possible to ameliorate the transhumanist program by – on one hand – identifying its possible shortcomings, but also by ensuring the care or the best possible ecological conditions for future generations.

Keywords

EN

environmental ethics; transhumanism; human enhancement; ethics of respect for nature; Paul W. Taylor; Nick Bostrom; Julian Savulescu

• Publisher: Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej im. Marii Grzegorzewskiej. Wydawnictwo APS
• Journal: Studies in Global Ethics and Global Education
• Year: 2015
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 18-33

Dates

published

2015-12-30

Contributors

author

Bardziński Filip

• Zakład Etyki, Instytut Filozofii, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, ul. Augustyna Szamarzewskiego 89C, 60-568 Poznań

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Identifiers

DOI

10.5604/23920890.1187956