Postmodern Prometheus: (Anti)Humanist Roots of Transhumanism

Abstract

Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement, which affirms the possibility of the fundamental enhancement of the human body and mind by applying biotechnology, specifically genetic engineering and AI. The philosophical and cultural roots of the movement, according to transhumanists themselves, are in humanist thinking, especially secular humanism of the 18th and 19th century. Starting from the idea that transhumanism is a postmodern version of the Prometheus myth, this paper analyses different emphases and levels of meaning the myth has acquired in many interpretations, including the transhumanist one, in order to critically reexamine the continuity of the ideas between transhumanism and secular humanism. What we detect in the transhumanist understanding of human nature, freedom and transcendence is not the continuity with humanism, but a postmodern antihumanist attitude and an explicit affirmation of (neo)liberal discourse.