Nietzschean Meditations: Untimely Thoughts at the Dawn of the Transhuman Era

Description

Nietzschean Meditations takes its inspiration from the version of Nietzsche that was popular before the Second World War, which stressed the 'Zarathustrian' elements of his thought as the harbinger of a new sort of being - the Ubermensch. The book updates the image of this creature to present a version of 'transhumanism' that breaks with the more precautionary and pessimistic approaches of humanity's future in contemporary 'posthumanist' thought. Fuller follows Nietzsche in discussing deeply and frankly the challenging issues that aspiring transhumanists face. They include their philosophical and especially theological roots, the implications of transhumanism for matters of life and death, and whether any traces of classical humanity will remain in the 'transhuman' being. Titel Inhalt Acknowledgements Introduction: The path through Nietzsche to transhumanism Chapter One: What is transhumanism? 1. Transhumanism as humanity's cosmic lift-off 2. Which way up for the human condition? 3. Who's afraid of the human? Ecomodernism as energetic theology 4. Expanding the scope of the human in search of the divine 5. Back from Prometheus to Faust and Simon Magus: The theological roots of transgression 6. The indefinite pursuit of reason for its own sake: The philosophical roots of transgression Chapter Two: The contours of transhumanist politics 1. Transhumanism as the fine art of occupying the extremes 2. Existential risk as the higher moral evasion 3. A peaceful but costly transhuman future? In search of the added value of being human 4. Morphological freedom and the quest for a responsible and representative transhumanism 5. Lessons for transhumanism from the difficult history of ˋhuman rights' 6. Ontological narcissism as a barrier to extending the ˋRepublic of Humanity' 7. From transgender to transhumanism: The path away from Haraway's ˋCyborg Manifesto' 8. The rocky road from transgender to transhuman 9. Does extending rights to animals diminish the concept of right? 10. Conclusion: The centrality of uplift to the extended ˋRepublic of Humanity' Appendix: Transhumanist Bill of Rights Chapter Three: Death as a transhumanist lifestyle choice 1. Suicide and the digital afterlife: An introduction to the transhumanist way of death 2. Towards a transhumanist affirmation of death: Proposals for a positive necropolitics 3. Making death worth its cost: Prolegomena to any future necronomics 4. Generational change as a vehicle for radical conceptual change: The case for periodic rejuvenation 5. Death as a virtue of living systems: From mass extinctions to creative destruction Two conclusions: One light and one heavy References Index