Maestrutti Marina
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
J Int Bioethique. 2011 Sep-Dec;22(3-4):51-66, 193-4. doi: 10.3917/jib.222.0051.
"Posthuman" is often used to indicate some position, practice, perspective and vision concerning the future of human beings closely related to the use of contemporary technologies. This contribution would like to analyze some conceptions of the notion of posthuman and to present it as a possible form of "non-anthropocentric" thought which considers technological changes as non-human realities strictly involved in the construction and the definition of what constitutes a human being (and his body) and its predicates. Contrary to anthropocentrism which has characterized Western thought from humanism up to the extreme outcomes of transhumanism, non-anthropocentric posthumanism shows how the human being, who has always been the product of hybridization with the non-human (environment, animals and techniques), is built not only by his own strength but always through his partnership and his environment. The idea of enhancement of the body by technology to reach another stage of human evolution is one of the constant elements characterizing transhumanism. Posthumanism suggests no longer considering the interface with technology as an ergonomic relationship with an external tool that just extends the human body, but as a hybrid, or interpenetration that questions the separation of the body and its centrality. In this perspective, the question is not of simply establishing which is a good use of a technology but, every time, of redefining ourselves in our perspectives and our predicates with regard to what a technology allows and opens up to us.
“后人类”常被用来指代与当代技术应用密切相关的、关于人类未来的某种立场、实践、观点和愿景。本文旨在分析后人类概念的一些构想,并将其呈现为一种可能的“非人类中心主义”思想形式,这种思想认为技术变革是严格参与构成人类(及其身体)及其属性的构建和定义的非人类现实。与从人文主义到超人类主义极端结果一直主导西方思想的人类中心主义不同,非人类中心主义的后人类主义表明,人类一直是与非人类(环境、动物和技术)杂交的产物,其构建不仅依靠自身力量,还总是通过与伙伴及环境的合作。通过技术增强身体以达到人类进化的另一个阶段的想法,是超人类主义的一个不变特征。后人类主义建议不再将与技术的界面视为与仅仅延伸人体的外部工具的人机工程学关系,而是视为一种质疑身体分离及其中心地位的混合或相互渗透关系。从这个角度来看,问题不在于简单地确定如何合理使用一种技术,而在于每次都要根据技术为我们带来的可能性和开启的前景,重新定义我们自身的观点和属性。