Enhancement als Weg zum posthumanen Körper?

Über die Divergenzen der Körperdeutungen von Transhumanismus und gegenwärtigem Alltagsverständnis

Abstract

Human enhancement is the subject of controversial debate. The divergence of assessments results, among other things, from different understandings of how a modified body can be interpreted. Above all, interpretations of transhuman visions of the future deviate from everyday understanding. Transhumanism portrays modified bodies as posthuman beings and no longer as human beings, while everyday understanding continues to regard them as human. In order to reflect on the question to what extent the much-discussed transhumanist visions are suitable for judging enhancement concepts, the article questions how transhumanism gets to its interpretations of the body. It will elaborate that in transhumanism transhuman bodies and transhumanist visions are co-constitutive. The transhuman bodies are what is transhuman about transhumanism, but they themselves only become transhuman because they are interpreted in the context of transhumanist visions. They serve transhumanism to stand out from the pres- ent as visions of the future and are precisely not intended to be realized in the present. Transhumanist visions can be used accordingly to think about technical developments and their consequences. However, they must not be seen as predictions that would inevitably arrive with the development of technology.