Birds Don’t Fly

  • Michael Hauskeller
Chapter
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Abstract

does it mean to be human? Is there something like the human essence, something that we all have in common and that defines what we are? And will our radically enhanced descendants of the future still be humans—better humans no doubt, but still preserving the same human essence—or will they rather be emphatically post-human?"?>This chapter is a reflection on what it means to be human and whether there is a human essence: something that we have all in common and that defines what we are. Guided by the question whether our radically enhanced descendants of the future will still be human, more than human, or perhaps even truly human, Hauskeller argues that the term “human” has no fixed meaning and is primarily used as a ‘nomen dignitatis’ – a dignity-conferring name, implying a particular moral status. Definitions of the human are revealed as inevitably “persuasive”, telling us about what is important and how we should live our lives as humans, and thus help us to make sense of what we are.

Keywords

Human Nature Moral Status Cognitive Enhancement Human Soul Good Human 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Michael Hauskeller
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Sociology, Philosophy and AnthropologyUniversity of ExeterExeterUK

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