Unlikely Allies? Transhuman Dignity and Catholic Doctrine on Human Flourishing

Abstract

In this chapter I engage with both the question of whether Creation includes postdigital life and the implications of this potential inclusion for witnessing God’s activity in a transhuman world. To address this twofold inquiry, I investigate whether the Catholic Church can turn out to be, contrary to a received view, a doctrinal ally of transhumanism. To that effect, I dissect various seemingly disparate themes in the transhumanist literature, showing that they can attain coherent articulation once the movement’s theological undercurrent is identified. Subsequently, I show that there is a substantial overlap between this transhumanist theological underpinning and the contemporary epistemology of the Church. This theoretical bridge is possible in virtue of later philosophical developments in Catholic doctrine that are rarely acknowledged. It will become evident that both Catholicism and transhumanism espouse the common goals of both the defence of human dignity and the promotion of human flourishing. I will conclude by suggesting that the Catholic Church, as a result of sharing this common aim with transhumanism, will likely fulfil a role of enabler of a transhuman future imbued of God’s presence regardless of an individual’s material substrata.KeywordsTranshumanismCatholicismThomismHuman sufferingPrecautionary principleProactionary principleHuman dignityEvolution