Frodeman - Transhumanism, Nature, and the Ends of Science

Humanity and nature have been defended on many sides from the onslaught of science and technology, but in this book Frodeman expertly confronts what is arguably the greatest challenge of them all, transhumanism.

Steve Fuller, Author of Humanity 2.0, University of Warwick, UK

For a long time, Ive had misgivings about the transhumanist project. This book has helped me understand why. This is a deep and important book. We owe it to ourselves to take seriously as we rush headlong into a hyper-technological future.

David Livingstone Smith, University of New England, USA

This book offers a social, political, and aesthetic critique of transhumanism and of the accelerating growth of scientific knowledge generally. Rather than improving our lives, science and technology today increasingly leave us debilitated and infantilized. It is time to restrain the runaway ambitions of technoscientific knowledge.

The transhumanist goal of human enhancement encapsulates a range of dangerous social pathologies. Like transhumanism itself, these pathologies are rooted in, or in reaction to, the ethos of more. Its a cultural love affair with excess, which is prompted by the libertarian standards of our cultural productions. But the attempt to live at the speed of an electron is destined for failure.

In response, the author offers a naturalistic account of human flourishing where we attend to the natural rhythms of life. The interdisciplinary orientation of Transhumanism, Nature, and the Ends of Science makes it relevant to scholars and students across a wide range of disciplines, including social and political philosophy, philosophy of technology, science and technology studies, environmental studies, and public policy.

Robert Frodeman is Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Texas. He is the author and/or editor of 16 books, including the Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity, Sustainable Knowledge: A Theory of Interdisciplinarity, and Socrates Tenured: The Institutions of 21st Century Philosophy (with Adam Briggle).

Epiphenomenal Mind

An Integrated Outlook on Sensations, Beliefs, and Pleasure

William S. Robinson

The Meanings of Violence

From Critical Theory to Biopolitics

Edited by Gavin Rae and Emma Ingala

A Defense of Simulated Experience

New Noble Lies

Mark Silcox

The Act and Object of Judgment

Historical and Philosophical Perspectives

Edited by Brian Ball and Christoph Schuringa

Perception, Cognition and Aesthetics

Edited by Dena Shottenkirk, Manuel Curado and Steven S. Gouveia

Philosophical Perspectives on Moral and Civic Education

Shaping Citizens and Their Schools

Edited by Colin Macleod and Christine Tappolet

Explanation in Action Theory and Historiography

Causal and Teleological Approaches

Edited by Gunnar Schumann

Spatial Senses

Philosophy of Perception in an Age of Science

Edited by Tony Cheng, Ophelia Deroy, and Charles Spence

Transhumanism, Nature, and the Ends of Science

Robert Frodeman

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Contemporary-Philosophy/book-series/SE0720

First published 2019

by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 Taylor & Francis

The right of Robert Frodeman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Frodeman, Robert, author.

Title: Transhumanism and nature: a critique of technoscience / Robert Frodeman.

Description: New York : Taylor & Francis, 2019. | Series: Routledge studies in contemporary philosophy; 123 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019012776 | ISBN 9780367189396 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Transhumanism. | TechnologyPhilosophy. | TechnologySocial aspects. | SciencePhilosophy. | ScienceSocial aspects. | Philosophical anthropology. | Nature.

Classification: LCC B821 .F71528 2019 | DDC 144dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019012776

ISBN: 978-0-367-18939-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-19936-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are rather the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the easy life of the gods would be a lifeless life.

Hannah Arendt