A Bioethical Approach to the Term Enhancement Postulated by Transhumanism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/Metyper.2019.v0i21.5292Keywords:
bioethics, transhumanism, human betterment/improvement, enhance-ment, qualitativeAbstract
The hypothesis of the article is that the transhumanist proposal of human enhancement contributes to the conception of human betterment in a quantitative sense but not necessarily in a qualitative one. In the first section we will characterize the two most common meanings of the term enhancement used by transhumanists: as a synonym of augmentation and as a synonym of improvement or betterment and how each one implies an underlying conception of quantity and quality. In the second section we will analyze whether a maximization of certain functions or faculties necessarily implies an improvement and of what type. In the third section we will briefly discuss the problem of the specification of the good and the ultimate purpose of the human being, implicit in the evaluative or qualitative conception of human betterment. Finally, we will make a concluding reflection where we urge to deepen on these issues.
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