Transhumanism versus humanism
The transhumanist worldview, being a product of the culture of commodity fetishism, is a utopian and largely irresponsible reaction to the global socio-biological crisis. The article reveals the antinomy of the main idea of this intellectual movement. From the very beginning of its existence, transhumanism contains within itself a serious contradiction between the desire to improve human nature and the desire to overcome it in favor of “posthuman”. Considered as a whole, transhumanism, in which the radical tendency dominates, is actually not humanism, because transhumanists, considering human beings as a means to create a “posthuman”, consciously violate the humanistic Kant’s categorical imperative. The guarantee against the degeneration of humanism into transhumanism is anthropocentrism. People should use modern technological achievements not as a means of their “overcoming” and enslavement, but as a means of their development. The humanistic solution to the socio-biological crisis consists in the transition to preventive and personalized forms of medicine. Moderate transhumanists, who want to improve human nature within the species Homo sapiens, do not really need transhumanism – the improvement of the natural inner foundations of human existence can and should be an integral part of the theoretical and practical strategy of real humanism. As for utopian, radical transhumanism, it can only spoil or destroy human existence.
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