The Incomplete Man. Patristic and Medieval Roots of Transhumanism 3800-CNKT23-M-OG

In the contemporary ideological debate concerning the character and aim of human nature, the transhumanist thought – initiated by thinkers such as Max More, Ray Kurzweil, and Donna Haraway – seems to be the extreme opposite of Christian orthodoxy, i.e. the contemporary doctrines commenting on the revelation with reference to the theological and philosophical tradition going back to the Church Fathers and developed by the thinkers of the Middle Ages. Today, many defenders of the tradition accuse transhumanism of undermining what they assume to be the fundamental rule of Christian humanism: the permanence of God-created human nature. In fact, transhumanism claims not only that man can transcend the human condition, but also that what enables man to do this is the inherent dynamism of “fluent” nature, and even that, through a culture-conditioned change, man can achieve the state of perfection associated previously only with the “divine”. To its Christian opponents, the transhumanist project seems then to represent a diabolical temptation, albeit veiled in scientific terms, to break the God-given laws of creation; a temptation parallel to Adam’s – to become like God.

The problem is that the transhumanists who claim that humanity needs to break free of the confinement imposed by the so-called laws of nature are in their outlook on man closer to the direction in which the Church Fathers developed Christian anthropology than the contemporary representatives of Christian theology who firmly defend these laws. The latter forget that Christian theology, though always advocating the magnificence of God-created human nature, in the beginning had also fought against Greek naturalism that claimed that very nature’s immutability.

In the course, I shall first present the features of naturalism, characteristic for archaic religions and to a great extent continued in Greek philosophy, and then I will show how it was transcended in Ancient and Medieval Christian thought. This in turn will enable me to discuss the question if and in what sense the theological-philosophical vision of man resulting from such transcending could be identified as the first form of the transhumanist idea in Western thought.

Type of course

elective monographs
general courses

Course coordinators

Rafał Tichy

Learning outcomes

Knowledge:
– the student knows the main hermeneutic and mystical concepts of Antiquity and Middle Ages
– the student knows the specific Latin and modern languages terminology, used within the thematic scope of the seminar

Skills:
– the student can singlehandedly analyse the texts read in the class
– the student can identify essential problems and research questions concerning the examined issues
– the student can formulate his/her own research propositions

Competence:
– the student is aware of the importance of the Medieval symbol theory and mystical concepts in the European culture
– the student can cooperate in a group, taking on different roles

Assessment criteria

Conversation checking the student’s knowledge of the issues presented during lectures, activity.

Number of absences: 2 in a semester

Bibliography

R. Kurzwiel, Nadchodzi osobliwość, Warszawa 2013;
M. Klichowski, Narodziny cyborgizacji, Poznań 2014,
M. Eliade, Mit wiecznego powrotu, Warszawa 1998
J. Taubes, Zachodnia eschatologia, Warszawa 2016
G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven, M. Schofield, Filozofia przedsokratejska, Warszawa 1999
Arystoteles, Fizyka
Arystoteles, Metafizyka
Platon, Dialogi
Plotyn, Enneady
Ireneusz z Lyonu, Adversus Haereses
Ireneusz z Lyonu, Wykład nauki apostolskiej
Atanazy Wielki, O wcieleniu Słowa
Tertulian, Przeciw Marcjanowi
Grzegorz z Nyssy, O stworzeniu człowieka
Orygenes, Homilie o Księdze Kapłańskiej
Orygenes, O zasadach
Augustyn, Państwo Boże
Bernard z Clairvaux, De gratia et libero arbitro
Bernard z Clairvaux, Sermones super Cantica Canticorum
Bonawentura, Konferencje o sześciu dniach stworzenia
Tomasz z Akwinu, Suma Teologiczna
Mistrz Eckhart, Kazania
Roger Bacon, Dzieło większe
Francis Bacon, Novum Organum
Ch. Schonborn, Przebóstwienie. Życie i śmierć, Poznań, 2001
M. Coune, Grace de la Transfiguration d’apres les Peres d’Occident, Bellefontaine 1990.
M. Blondel, Filozoficzne wyzwania chrześcijaństwa, Kraków 1994
R. Javelet, Image et ressemblance au douzième siècle, 1967
E. Gilson, Duch filozofii średniowiecznej, Warszawa 1958
R. Cole-Turner, Transhumanism and Transcendence, Washington 2011
C. Mercer and T. J. Trothen, Religion and Transhumanism, 2015

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

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Description of 3800-CNKT23-M-OG in USOSweb