Will Human Potential Carry Us Beyond Human? A Humanistic Inquiry Into Transhumanism

Abstract

Humanism has long celebrated the human, including those qualities that make us uniquely human, as well as the vastness of human potential. Humanistic psychology has further sought to understand what it means to be human and what conditions facilitate human flourishing and the unfolding of potential. Transhumanism, a movement advocating technologically aided human enhancements, represents a new and rapidly growing manifestation of humanistic ideals. Transhumanism identifies physical human limitations as limitations on potential and seeks to remove all such limits, understanding and often celebrating the fact that such changes could make us no longer recognizably human. Transhuman aims include technologically aided radical human enhancements in longevity, health, intelligence, emotion, morality, and more. While the implications of transhumanism are being widely debated within fields such as philosophy and religion, contributions from psychology are scarce. With its wealth of wisdom into the heart of issues around what it means to be human, humanistic psychology is particularly well-suited to exploring transhuman issues. In addition to making a case for the involvement of humanistic psychology in transhumanism, the current work explores several specific areas in which humanistic psychology may be fruitfully applied, such as issues of potential and agency.