Morality's Collapse
Antinatalism, Transhumanism and the Future of Humankind
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55613/jeet.v31i1.76Keywords:
antinatalism, transhumanism, posthumanism, contemporary philosophy, humanism, pessimism, Enlightenment, modernityAbstract
In the present work I explore the unignorably momentous responsibility of contemporary philosophy to conclude the project of humanism as inherited from Enlightenment-era thinking. I argue that there are presently two avenues open to us. On the one hand there is antinatalism, according to which humankind must be gestured towards self-imposed extinction and thereby overcome. On the other hand, there is transhumanism which inspires the hope that we may transcend any limitations to our being and flourish as a result of radical enhancement, thereby also overcoming humankind. On both accounts, the ‘human’ is something to be overcome, either negatively (antinatalism) or positively (transhumanism). As both have a common ancestor in radical Enlightenment-era humanism, this choice between radical resignation and affirmation becomes all the more pertinent now that we find ourselves in modernity’s wake and in the ruins of morality’s collapse.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Robbert Zandbergen
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