Bioprogressive Extropianist Transhumanism, Posthumanism and Bioconservatism in Light of the Concept of Nature of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

Although the rise of progressive extropianist transhumanism that points to a post-humanism has developed in the last three decades, it is easy to see that it is a matter of the past, the present and the future, since transhumanism has accompanied man since its inception. It is a fact that, since man began to intervene in nature, he has overcome many limitations imposed by his precariousness. Aristotle had already referred to man as homo faber. However, in the face of technological advances, lately a response has emerged to the
proposals of the transhumanists by those who have called themselves bioconservatists. Both points of view agree that not everything that can be called “improvements” to the human being has the same ontological and moral status. It is also interesting to see whether it is possible for transhumanism to reach extropianism or posthumanism, which leads scientific discourse to a philosophical level. The purpose of this work is to discover the scope and ontological limits of this movement, based on the concept of nature developed by Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose proposal is classic and perennial. We will see how the concept of nature in Saint Thomas illuminates us to answer the questions that have recently been raised by the intellectuals of this philosophical, scientific and cultural movement.