Posthuman Bliss?: The Failed Promise of Transhumanism

A tightly argued and expansive examination of the pitfalls of transhumanism that reacquaints us with what it means to live well. Advocates of transhumanism, or "radical" enhancement, urge us to pursue the biotechnological heightening of select capacities -- above all, cognitive ability -- so far beyond any human limit that the beings with those capacities would exist on a higher ontological plane. For proponents of such views, humanity's self-transcendence through advancements in science and technology may even be morally required. Consequently, the human stakes of how we respond to transhumanism are immeasurably high. In Posthuman Bliss? The Failed Promise of Transhumanism, Susan B. Levin challenges transhumanists' overarching commitments regarding the mind and brain, ethics, liberal democracy, knowledge, and reality, showing their notion of humanity's self-transcendence into "posthumanity" to be little more than fantasy. Uniting philosophical with scientific arguments, Levin mounts a significant challenge to transhumanists' claim that science and technology support their vision of posthumanity. In a clear and engaging style, she dismantles transhumanists' breezy assurances that posthumans will emerge if we but allocate sufficient resources to that end. Far from offering theoretical and practical "proof of concept" for the vision that they urge upon us, Levin argues, transhumanists engage inadequately with cognitive psychology, biology, and neuroscience, often relying on questionable or outdated views within those fields. Having shown in depth why transhumanism should be rejected, Levin argues forcefully for a holistic perspective on living well that is rooted in Aristotle's virtue ethics but that is adapted to liberal democracy. This holism is thoroughly human, in the best of senses: It directs us to consider worthy ends for us as human beings and to do the irreplaceable work of understanding ourselves rather than relying on technology and science to be our salvation.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Assessing Transhumanist Advocacy of Cognitive Bioenhancement 1. Introduction 2. The (Unsuccessful) Essentialism of Enhancement Critics 3. Transhumanists' Rational Essentialism: An Avowed Enlightenment Legacy 4. The "Cognitive" in "Cognitive Enhancement": Its Meaning and Backdrop 5. Why Are Transhumanists So Confident that Cognitive Enhancement Is Upon Us? 6. Hoisting Transhumanists by Their Own (Mental) Petard 7. Conclusion 2. Why We Should Reject Transhumanists' Entire Lens on the Mind and Brain 1. Introduction 2. Basic-Emotion and Dual-Process Approaches to Emotions and the Brain 3. The Superior Lens of Appraisal Theory 4. The Wider Resonance of Scherer's Theory 5. Aristotle's Lens on the Mind 6. The Alignment of Aristotle's Theory with Contemporary Science 7. Casebeer's "Neo-Aristotelian" Position 8. Conclusion 3. Evaluating the Debate Thus Far over Moral Bioenhancement 1. Setting the Stage 2. What, Specifically, Should Moral Bioenhancement Be Directed To? 3. Practical Proof of Concept for Moral Bioenhancement? 4. Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Psychology, and Morality 5. An Alternate Focus on Erasing Antisociality 6. Trading Psychological Richness and Freedom for Survival 7. Conclusion 4. Utilitarian Commitments of Transhumanists and Their Sociopolitical Implications 1. Introduction 2. General Features of Utilitarianism 3. "Health" and "Public Health": Relating Transhumanism to Wider Trends 4. Transhumanists' Display of Utilitarian Commitments and Their Sociopolitical Implications 5. Resource Allocation 6. The Moral Permissibility of Using Reproductive Technologies to Avoid Disease and Disability 7. Conclusion 5. Creating a Higher Breed: Transhumanism and the Prophecy of Anglo-American Eugenics 1. Introduction 2. The Need for a Fuller Assessment of Transhumanists' Claims about Earlier Eugenics 3. Human Agency Creates, Then Becomes, the Divine 4. Our Elevation with Respect to "Non-Disease" Conditions 5. In Tandem, Eliminate the Allegedly Deleterious 6. The Great Wingspan of Public Health 7. Shared Utilitarian Commitments 8. Sociopolitical Commitments and Implications 9. Conclusion 6. Transhumanists' Informational View of Being and Knowledge 1. Introduction 2. A Historical Foray 3. Persistence, Problems, Pitfalls 4. Kant versus Transhumanism 5. Conclusion 7. Living Virtuously as a Regulative Ideal 1. Introduction 2. Ancient Greek Ethics 3. We Need Not Be Made to Care about Virtue 4. What Now? 5. What Now? Part Two: Our Civic Scene 6. Perfectionism Suitable for Human Beings: Living Virtuously as a Regulative Ideal 7. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Susan B. Levin is Roe/Straut Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Smith College. In addition to her numerous publications in bioethics, she has authored two books and many articles in Greek philosophy.

Review :
"Transhumanists argue that for human beings to survive in the future, much less to flourish, we need to technologically overhaul our evolved natures. In her vigorous, erudite, clear, and penetrating critique, Susan Levin shows the transhumanist argument to rest on a superficial philosophical understanding of what it means to be human and on an equally superficial scientific understanding of what it is to be an organism. Beyond critique, she offers an alternative vision of flourishing that is rooted in Aristotle's understanding, is improved upon by the American Founders, and is embodied in the life of Martin Luther King. This book will be of enormous interest to anyone who cares to think about what it means to be human in an age when the problems of our shared existence can seem so dire that the only solutions left are technological." -- Erik Parens, The Hastings Center "Susan Levin's critique of the philosophical literature defending radical forms of cognitive and moral enhancement is closely reasoned, thoroughly researched, and deliciously peppery. In offering sustained challenges to both the scientific and the philosophical assumptions of her interlocutors, she effectively sets the agenda for the next chapter in scholarship about our obligations to future humans." -- Eric T. Juengst, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill "Rooted in an optimistic view about human capacities and wielding strong philosophical and scientific arguments, Susan Levin's insightful and welcome book reveals transhumanists' tempting but ultimately failing promises." -- Inmaculada de Melo-Martín, Weill Cornell Medicine "Global pandemics, climate change, looming geopolitical conflicts over fresh water and food--it seems the more we should learn how to change the behavior of humans in nature, the more we recoil and try to find a way out by changing nature in humans instead. One such recoil is transhumanism. Posthuman Bliss? offers a searching critique of biotechnical fabrication of human thought and emotion on the molecular level. Welcome to bioethical thinking that is critical, not apologetic. Welcome to classical philosopher Susan B. Levin's interdisciplinary perspective on the limits of biopower." -- Bruce Jennings, Vanderbilt University