Overcoming Transhumanism: Education or Enhancement Towards the Overhuman?

Abstract

Transhumanism promotes the application of emerging technologies and genetics in order to overcome the physical and cognitive limitations of the human species. In this article, the main question to be considered is the following: is Nietzsche's notion of educational self-overcoming compatible with the idea of biotechnological self-enhancement? After presenting some broad characteristics of transhumanist philosophy, the general line of reasoning in this article is based on two colliding interpretations of Nietzsche's ‘overhuman’ and its educational implications: Stefan Lorenz Sorgner's attempt to legitimise techno-progressive aspirations through the ‘will-to-power-ontology’ and Babette Babich's critique of transhumanism as a popular display of the ‘ascetic ideal’. In the final part, I argue that Nietzsche's post-anthropology can only be regarded as a possible onto-axiological legitimisation for a kind of transhumanism that would not aim at strengthening the tendency to approach human development from a solely technocratic point of view. I further conclude that the rise of biotechnological power demands a critical educational reflection that would effectively prevent the enclosure of the individual within the network of techno-science.