Risk and the Question of the Acceptability of Human Enhancement
The Humanist and Transhumanist Perspectives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9689960 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jean-Pierre Beland (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), Johane Patenaude (0000-0001-6721-9697, Université de Sherbrooke) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 377-394 |
| Publication date | 2013-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Dialogue (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0012-2173 • E-ISSN: 1759-0949 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0012217313000607 |
| OpenAlex | W2142283383 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the difficulties involved in interdisciplinary work on the question of the risks associated with the ethical and social acceptability of human enhancement through the development of nanotechnologies. These difficulties emerge in the context of the debate between transhumanism, whose principal defenders have backgrounds in the natural sciences, and humanism, whose principal defenders have backgrounds in the social sciences and the humanities. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that essentially transhumanists and humanists differ on these questions: the identification of risks and impacts; the assessment that serves as the foundation for the acceptability or unacceptability of these risks and impacts; and faith in the capacity of science to overcome the identified risks to human beings. This paper’s presentation of the divergences that exist in the debate between transhumanism and humanism constitutes a necessary first step towards intervening in that debate in an interdisciplinary manner
Context (archaeology) · Engineering ethics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Faith · Human enhancement · Humanism · Identification (biology) · Political science · Presentation (obstetrics) · Principal (computer security) · Social science · Sociology · Transhumanism · Computer Science · Engineering · Law · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Philosophy · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
| Highly cited | No |
|---|