Michael Hauskeller
University of Liverpool, Philosophy, Faculty Member
- I am a German-British philosopher. My main area of interest is ethics (in a wide sense), but I have also done work in... moreI am a German-British philosopher. My main area of interest is ethics (in a wide sense), but I have also done work in several other areas of philosophy (most notably the philosophy of art and beauty, and the theory of perception). In recent years I have been mostly concerned with human enhancement and related topics, but not so much with the question whether it is "good" or "bad", but rather with what we are actually trying to achieve with it. I have published four books on the subject, Better Humans? Understanding the Enhancement Project (London: Routledge 2013), Sex and the Posthuman Condition (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2014), (with Curt Carbonell and Tom Philbeck) The Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2015), and Mythologies of Posthumanism (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2016). I have now started to work on a new project, about what it is to live a meaningful life, and how this issue is connected to the fact and the awareness of our mortality.edit
My new book will be published by Bloomsbury in September 2019.
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This collection of new papers on moral enhancement results from the 2016 Annual Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference, which was held at the University of Exeter, organized by Lewis Coyne and me. It was published as a Royal Institute... more
This collection of new papers on moral enhancement results from the 2016 Annual Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference, which was held at the University of Exeter, organized by Lewis Coyne and me. It was published as a Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement with Cambridge University Press in October 2018. What you can find here is the table of contents and the introduction.
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Published in October 2016, this book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy – the desirability... more
Published in October 2016, this book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy – the desirability of human self-design and immortality, the elimination of all suffering and the expansion of human autonomy – I explore these narratives and the understanding of human nature that informs them. Particular attention is paid to the theory of transhumanism as a form of utopia, stories of human nature, the increasing integration of the radical human enhancement project into the cultural mainstream, and the drive to upgrade from flesh to machine.
Available here is the first, introductory chapter. If you want to read the rest, you'll have to persuade your library to buy the book (or even better, buy it yourself).
Available here is the first, introductory chapter. If you want to read the rest, you'll have to persuade your library to buy the book (or even better, buy it yourself).
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What you find here is, I'm afraid, not the book itself, but, in order to whet your appetite, the publisher's website where the book is advertised. It has just been published, though, so you can always buy it.
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This is the first draft of a commissioned paper for the volume "Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying. Classic and Contemporary Perspectives", eds. Michael Cholbi and Travis Timmerman, which is due to be published in 2019. I argue... more
This is the first draft of a commissioned paper for the volume "Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying. Classic and Contemporary Perspectives", eds. Michael Cholbi and Travis Timmerman, which is due to be published in 2019. I argue here that our mortality, the fact that we have to die, does not compromise our ability to live a meaningful life and to do things that matter. Neither the repetitiveness nor the apparent futility, nor the cosmic insignificance of our actions robs our lives of meaning.
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This is the revised version of a paper I presented at a phenomenology conference in Stockholm in summer 2018. It will now soon be published in the journal Scientia et Fides. I reflect here on our lived experience of being human, or of... more
This is the revised version of a paper I presented at a phenomenology conference in Stockholm in summer 2018. It will now soon be published in the journal Scientia et Fides. I reflect here on our lived experience of being human, or of some prominent aspects of being human, in light of rising demands to use already existing and soon to be developed technologies to fundamentally change what we are. The aspects that I am focusing on are, for one thing, our existential vulnerability and, for another, our desire to live a life that, in some way or another, matters and is in that sense meaningful.
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This chapter, which I co-authored with the anthropologist Tom Rice, examines the importance of atmosphere in understanding our experiences of zoos. It is going to be published in Atmosphere and Aesthetics. A Plural Perspective, edited by... more
This chapter, which I co-authored with the anthropologist Tom Rice, examines the importance of atmosphere in understanding our experiences of zoos. It is going to be published in Atmosphere and Aesthetics. A Plural Perspective, edited by Tonino Griffero and Marco Tedeschini (Palgrave Macmillan 2019). The chapter focuses in particular on the role played by sound in the production of atmospheres in the zoo context. Zoos often work hard to generate atmospheres which are appropriate to their purpose as sites for entertainment, education and increasingly, conservation and the encouragement of environmentally responsible behaviour. Drawing on first hand experiences and observations of zoo visiting, the chapter considers some of the different types of atmosphere that zoos create, pointing to some of the ways in which atmospheres may allude or resist the attempts made to direct or construct them. The chapter also suggests that the non-human animals kept in zoos are likely to have their own atmospheric experiences of zoo space, which are perhaps very different in character from those of visitors and staff. We argue that zoos are atmospherically heterogeneous and complex, and face continual challenges as they try to design and maintain atmospheres in line with institutional aims and visitor expectations. A key atmospheric challenge for zoos is to reconcile visitors' desire to observe and experience forms of natural and ecological otherness with the realities of managing and displaying closely controlled animal populations.
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This is a paper that Lewis and I presented in October 2017 at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, as part of the conference Vie, Corps et Image. A Partir de Hans Jonas".
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Climate change is one of the most urgent global problems that we are facing today. The causes are well understood and many solutions have been proposed. However, so far none of them have been successful. Ingmar Persson and Julian... more
Climate change is one of the most urgent global problems that we are facing today. The causes are well understood and many solutions have been proposed. However, so far none of them have been successful. Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu have argued that this is because our moral psychology is ill-equipped to deal with global problems such as this one. They propose that in order to successfully mitigate climate change we should morally enhance ourselves. In this chapter we look into their proposal to see whether moral enhancement is indeed a viable solution to the climate crisis. We conclude that due to various theoretical and practical problems it is most likely not.
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This one is an invited contribution to The Philosophers' Magazine, co-authored with Kyle McNease (published in: The Philosophers' Magazine 79 (2017): 74-78).
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This chapter, which is based on my book "Atmosphären erleben", Berlin: Akademie-Verlag 1994, was published in "Designing Atmospheres", ed. Jürgen Weidinger, Berlin: Universitätsverlag 2018, 41-54. A German version was published four... more
This chapter, which is based on my book "Atmosphären erleben", Berlin: Akademie-Verlag 1994, was published in "Designing Atmospheres", ed. Jürgen Weidinger, Berlin: Universitätsverlag 2018, 41-54. A German version was published four years earlier.
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This is the pre-publication draft of a paper that was published in: Between the Species 20/1 (2017): 25-37. It analyses and deconstructs the transhumanist commitment to animal rights and the well-being of all sentient beings. Some... more
This is the pre-publication draft of a paper that was published in: Between the Species 20/1 (2017): 25-37. It analyses and deconstructs the transhumanist commitment to animal rights and the well-being of all sentient beings. Some transhumanists have argued that such a commitment entails a moral imperative to help non-human animals overcome their biological limitations by enhancing their cognitive abilities and generally " uplifting " them to a more human-like existence. I argue that the transhumanist approach to animal welfare ultimately aims at the destruction of the animal as an animal. By seeking to make animals more like us the freedom to live their life as the kind of creature they are is being denied to them. It is an attempt to tame the beast, to make it less alien and more acceptable to us, thus reaffirming the myth of human superiority.
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This essay, which I have been invited to write for the journal "Tropos. Journal of Hermeneutics and Philosophical Criticism", is about life extension and the alleged moral imperative to defeat human mortality. It it is not very analytical... more
This essay, which I have been invited to write for the journal "Tropos. Journal of Hermeneutics and Philosophical Criticism", is about life extension and the alleged moral imperative to defeat human mortality. It it is not very analytical and doesn't really contain much argument and should thus be read as an elaborate and rather personal suggestion to adopt a different perspective on life, death, and self.
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This paper is a response to the claim, made by some transhumanists, that we have a moral obligation to uplift animals to quasi-human status because their lives are, due to their nature, substantially worse than the life of a human. A... more
This paper is a response to the claim, made by some transhumanists, that we have a moral obligation to uplift animals to quasi-human status because their lives are, due to their nature, substantially worse than the life of a human. A revised version will be published soon in the Journal of Animal Ethics.
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This is the first draft of a paper that I presented at a workshop on "gene editing and human flourishing" at the Hasting Center on May 16th, 2016. It is intended to be published in a volume edited by Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston.
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The purpose of this paper is mainly diagnostic. It tries to answer the question why we love machines. I argue that our biological bodies are often perceived as deficient in various ways. They limit our freedom, are easily destructible,... more
The purpose of this paper is mainly diagnostic. It tries to answer the question why we love machines. I argue that our biological bodies are often perceived as deficient in various ways. They limit our freedom, are easily destructible, and condemn us to die. For this reason, we look for an alternative way to exist and find it in the machine and its way of existing. Machines are attractive as a model for (post)human existence because they seem to allow an escape from the messiness of the human body. The more machine-like the human body becomes, the more it can be controlled and the more we make it our own by aligning the working of our bodies with our purposes. If the human body could be turned into (or be replaced by) a machine, we would finally be free to shape our own destiny. The paper traces how we attempt to become more machine-like in four different stages, which I call illusionism, fortification, replacement, and displacement. I conclude my discussion with an encouragement to...
This is a draft of a chapter commissioned by John Danaher and Neil Levy for a collection on the philosophy and ethics of sex robots, to be published by MIT Press in 2016.
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It has been argued that moral bioenhancement is desirable even if it would make it impossible for us not to do what is morally required. Others find this apparent loss of freedom deplorable. However, it is difficult to see how a world in... more
It has been argued that moral bioenhancement is desirable even if it would make it impossible for us not to do what is morally required. Others find this apparent loss of freedom deplorable. However, it is difficult to see how a world in which there is no moral evil can plausibly be regarded as worse than a world in which people are not only free to do evil, but where they actually do it, which would commit us to the seemingly paradoxical view that, under certain circumstances, the bad can be better than the good. Notwithstanding, this view is defended here.
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This one was published in "Jonathan Swift and Philosophy", ed. Janelle Poetzsch, Rowman & Littlefield 2016, 3-12.
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This is the first draft of a paper commissioned for a collection of papers on the ethics of human enhancement, edited by Steve Clarke, Julian Savulescu and others, to be published by Oxford University Press. The final version was... more
This is the first draft of a paper commissioned for a collection of papers on the ethics of human enhancement, edited by Steve Clarke, Julian Savulescu and others, to be published by Oxford University Press. The final version was published in: The Ethics of Human Enhancement. Understanding the Debate, eds. Steve Clarke et al, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2016, 198-210.
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This is the first draft of a paper that is going to be published in a forthcoming collection on transhumanism and the philosophy of immortality, edited by Daniel Came, Stephen Burwood and Alexander Ornella, and published by Oxford... more
This is the first draft of a paper that is going to be published in a forthcoming collection on transhumanism and the philosophy of immortality, edited by Daniel Came, Stephen Burwood and Alexander Ornella, and published by Oxford University Press.
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This is the first, introductory chapter of our forthcoming book, the "Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television", to be published in autumn 2015.
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This is a response to a Persson and Savulescu's "The Art of Misunderstanding Moral Bioenhancement: Two Cases", which was just published in the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24.1 (2015): 48-57. It has been accepted for... more
This is a response to a Persson and Savulescu's "The Art of Misunderstanding Moral Bioenhancement: Two Cases", which was just published in the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24.1 (2015): 48-57. It has been accepted for publication and will appear in revised form, subsequent to peer-review and/or editorial input by Cambridge University Press, in Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics.
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This one has now been published in the journal Trans-Humanities 8/3 (2015): 131-147.
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Published in: Revista de Filosofia Aurora 29/46 (2017): 309-323. Written from a broadly atheist point of view, this paper explores the religious dimension of moral experience, that is, whether in order to be moral and/or to live a life... more
Published in: Revista de Filosofia Aurora 29/46 (2017): 309-323. Written from a broadly atheist point of view, this paper explores the religious dimension of moral experience, that is, whether in order to be moral and/or to live a life that in our own eyes means something it is necessary to believe in something that transcends what we can verify through science or direct observation and even what we can clearly articulate. I investigate the question through an interpretation of the work of four very different writers, namely Hans Jonas, Alfred North Whitehead, Albert Camus, and Cormac McCarthy, who all contribute valuable insights that suggest the impossibility of a moral life, and indeed any decent human life at all, that is based purely on tangible reality and the rationally justifiable.
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This is the prepublished version of a paper that was published in a collection on posthumanism and transhumanism edited by Stefan Sorgner and Robert Ranisch (2014).
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It is often argued that advancing the development of life extension technologies and engaging in what is referred to as the ‘crusade against ageing’ is of the utmost importance because ageing is clearly bad for us and death an obvious... more
It is often argued that advancing the development of life extension technologies and engaging in what is referred to as the ‘crusade against ageing’ is of the utmost importance because ageing is clearly bad for us and death an obvious evil. The purpose of this paper is to question this assumption and to demonstrate that, on the whole, ageing and death are not bad for us, so that there is no particular moral urgency to the extension of maximum human life span. - Published in Ethics & Medicine 27/1 (2011): 25-32.
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Disgust is often believed to have no special moral relevance. However, there are situations where disgust and similar feelings like revulsion, repugnance, or abhorrence function as the expression of a very strong moral disapproval that... more
Disgust is often believed to have no special moral relevance. However, there are situations where disgust and similar feelings like revulsion, repugnance, or abhorrence function as the expression of a very strong moral disapproval that cannot fully be captured by argument. I call this kind of disgust moral disgust. Although it is always in principle possible to justify our moral disgust by explaining what it is in a given situation or action that disgusts us, the feeling of disgust often comes first and either draws our attention to the fact that there is something (terribly) wrong in the first place, or makes us aware that the kind of wrongness we are dealing with surpasses what can be accounted for by established moral theory. In both cases moral disgust serves an important purpose for an adequate moral evaluation of diverse situations and the actions from which they result. - Published in Ethical Perspectives 13/4 (2006): 571-602.
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Genetic engineering is often looked upon with disfavour on the grounds that it involves `tampering with nature`. Most philosophers do not take this notion seriously. However, some do. Those who do tend to understand nature in an... more
Genetic engineering is often looked upon with disfavour on the grounds that it involves `tampering with nature`. Most philosophers do not take this notion seriously. However, some do. Those who do tend to understand nature in an Aristotelian sense, as the essence or form which is the final end or telos for the sake of which individual organisms live, and which also explains why they are as they are. But is this really a tenable idea? In order to secure its usage in present day ethics, I first analyze the contexts in which it is applied today, then discuss the notion of telos as it was employed by Aristotle himself, and finally debate its merits and defend it, as far as possible, against common objections.
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This is a draft chapter from my forthcoming book "Mythologies of Transhumanism" (Palgrave Macmillan 2016/17). It is mostly about animal enhancement, especially the transhumanist idea of "uplifting" animals to a quasi-human status.
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Another chapter from my forthcoming book "Mythologies of Transhumanism"
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This is a draft of the 3rd chapter of my forthcoming book "Mythologies of Transhumanism". It is largely based on an already published paper of mine, namely "Messy Bodies, or why we love machines", so if you already know that one, there is... more
This is a draft of the 3rd chapter of my forthcoming book "Mythologies of Transhumanism". It is largely based on an already published paper of mine, namely "Messy Bodies, or why we love machines", so if you already know that one, there is probably no point in reading this one.
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This is a preface to Jelson Oliveira's forthcoming book Negation and Power (published in Portuguese, under the title Negacao e Poder).
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This is a review essay that is going to be published in the American Journal of Bioethics. Taking Erik Parens's new book "Shaping Our Selves" and his concept of "binocularity" as our starting point, Brian Earp and I reflect on the current... more
This is a review essay that is going to be published in the American Journal of Bioethics. Taking Erik Parens's new book "Shaping Our Selves" and his concept of "binocularity" as our starting point, Brian Earp and I reflect on the current polarization in the enhancement debate and how to overcome it.
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This is a response to a piece that Steven Pinker wrote for the Washington Post in August 2015. The response has now been published in the Philosophical Salon of the Los Angeles Review of Books:... more
This is a response to a piece that Steven Pinker wrote for the Washington Post in August 2015. The response has now been published in the Philosophical Salon of the Los Angeles Review of Books: http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/are-ethicists-an-obstacle-to-progress/
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This review has been written for the Hastings Center Report. It has not been published yet. I deleted the file to comply with the journal's regulations, but will upload it again once the protected period has passed.
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This is the pre-peer-reviewed version of my review of de Melo-Martin's "Rethinking Reprogenetics", which was published in The Hastings Center Report 47/2 (2017): 50-51. The final version is available here:... more
This is the pre-peer-reviewed version of my review of de Melo-Martin's "Rethinking Reprogenetics", which was published in The Hastings Center Report 47/2 (2017): 50-51. The final version is available here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hast.691/full
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Review published in: Ethical Perspectives 23/1 (2016): 193-195.
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This review essay was published in The Hastings Center Report 46/6 (2016): 45-46.
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The review is in the public domain and can be found here: http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24892-liberal-eugenics-in-defence-of-human-enhancement/
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Research Interests: Ethics, Pragmatism, Bioethics, Human-Animal Relations, Animal Ethics, and 13 moreTranshumanism, Animal Welfare, Moral Philosophy, Pragmatism (Philosophy), Arthur Schopenhauer, Human Enhancement, Free Will and Moral Responsibility, Hans Jonas, Social Responsibility, Experience, Human Dignity, Jeremy Bentham, and Albert Schweitzer
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This is a reader with full texts and excerpts on the theory of beauty, each accompanied with a brief commentary by me. Published in 1994 by dtv (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag), 3rd edition 1999.
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My first book publication, in 1994, based on my MA thesis, in which I explain what Whitehead's philosophy is all about and why it is worth our while to study it.
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Some reflections on people in old postcards and on our experience of images of the once living but now dead. Illustrated with examples from my personal collection. Published, in German, in Scheidewege 47 (2017/18): 5-20.
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This one was published in the journal "Scheidewege" (August 2015).
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This German paper was published in Der blaue Reiter 37 (2015): 60-64.
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David Hume remarked that the skeptical view cannot be upheld in practical life. There are natural beliefs or instincts which are stronger than rational arguments in so far as we simply feel forced to acknowledge certain facts. But Hume... more
David Hume remarked that the skeptical view cannot be upheld in practical life. There are natural beliefs or instincts which are stronger than rational arguments in so far as we simply feel forced to acknowledge certain facts. But Hume failed to provide a clear phenomenological analysis of this force to believe. Yet, such an analysis is attempted nowadays by Hermann Schmitz. The object of this paper is to present Schmitz' analysis and to inquire into its significance for a possible solution both of the problem of knowledge and the problem of moral relativity.
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This essay on love, in which I argue that love should be understood not so much as an emotion, but rather as a speech act, was published in German under the title "Die stärkste der Leidenschaften" in Ethik und Unterricht 4 (2005): 4-7.
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Research Interests: Psychoanalysis, Painting, Feminism, Drawing, Early Christian Art, and 8 moreInstallation, Materialities, Writing about/with art, Christianity and the Arts, Presence/absence, Visibility/invisibility, Destabilization of Hierarchical Relationships and Borders, and Relationship Between Art Theory and Practice
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Another early German paper first published in Michael Hauskeller, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Gregor Schiemann (eds.), Naturerkenntnis und Natursein, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1998, 161-175, and reprinted in Michael Hauskeller, Auf der... more
Another early German paper first published in Michael Hauskeller, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter, Gregor Schiemann (eds.), Naturerkenntnis und Natursein, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1998, 161-175, and reprinted in Michael Hauskeller, Auf der Suche nach dem Guten. Wege und Abwege der Ethik, Kusterdingen: Die Graue Edition 1999, 59-76. I argue that although the experience of beauty has certain similarities with the experience of atmospheres, beauty itself is not an atmosphere, but (the discovery of) an absolute value.
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This is a short piece on popular philosophy (in German) for the blog "praefaktisch", which has just been launched by Norbert Paulo and Gottfried Schweiger: http://www.praefaktisch.de/
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This is a commentary on a target article by Sebastian Knell about "life time and ergon time", which defends the desirability of moderate life extension and attacks the desirability of radical life extension. Both Knell's article and my... more
This is a commentary on a target article by Sebastian Knell about "life time and ergon time", which defends the desirability of moderate life extension and attacks the desirability of radical life extension. Both Knell's article and my commentary will appear, in German, in the next issue of the (annual) journal Interdisziplinäre Anthropologie.
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This is a text I have prepared for a keynote speech that I'm going to give at the Phenomenology of Medicine and Bioethics conference that will take place in Stockholm on 13-15 June 2018:... more
This is a text I have prepared for a keynote speech that I'm going to give at the Phenomenology of Medicine and Bioethics conference that will take place in Stockholm on 13-15 June 2018: https://phenomenologyofmedicineandbioethics.wordpress.com/
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This is a paper I have prepared for the opening lecture that I am going to give at the Festival of Philosophy in Hanover, Germany, on 20 June 2018. I find it difficult to translate the title, "Ich sein", into English. I think the closest... more
This is a paper I have prepared for the opening lecture that I am going to give at the Festival of Philosophy in Hanover, Germany, on 20 June 2018. I find it difficult to translate the title, "Ich sein", into English. I think the closest would be "Being One Self".
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Hardly a month goes by without the announcement of yet another significant technological innovation. So much has changed during the past three decades, it is almost impossible to predict with any degree of certainty what we will be able... more
Hardly a month goes by without the announcement of yet another significant technological innovation. So much has changed during the past three decades, it is almost impossible to predict with any degree of certainty what we will be able to accomplish and what our world will look like a decade or two ahead. Anything seems possible. This makes it more pressing than ever to figure out what we actually want and what kind of life we should strive for. This talk looks into some of the challenges we face today and tries to identify the role philosophy and especially philosophical ethics must play in a world so rapidly changing as ours.
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This talk was given at the "Enhancing Understanding of Enhancement" conference in Belgrade, 27-28 October 2015. I continue the discussion that I started in my paper "The Little Alex Problem", which is concerned with moral bioenhancement... more
This talk was given at the "Enhancing Understanding of Enhancement" conference in Belgrade, 27-28 October 2015. I continue the discussion that I started in my paper "The Little Alex Problem", which is concerned with moral bioenhancement and the question whether - and if yes, why - it is important to protect our freedom to do morally bad things, which is vehemently denied by Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu. I have now written a proper paper based on the talk, which can be found and read here: https://www.academia.edu/18809315/Is_It_Desirable_to_Be_Able_to_Do_the_Undesirable_Moral_Bioenhancement_and_the_Little_Alex_Problem
There is also a youtube video of the actual talk, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfDiAtEERzs
There is also a youtube video of the actual talk, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfDiAtEERzs
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These days we hear a lot about human enhancement. About animal enhancement, not so much. Yet whatever will enable us to create better humans will probably also enable us to create better animals. Better in what respect, though, and for... more
These days we hear a lot about human enhancement. About animal enhancement, not so much. Yet whatever will enable us to create better humans will probably also enable us to create better animals. Better in what respect, though, and for whom? Will better animals be animals that better serve human needs, or rather animals that are empowered to enjoy and do things that they cannot do and enjoy now? And if the latter, do we actually have a moral obligation to “uplift” them to a higher status and an (allegedly) more valuable life?
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It has been argued (by Max More and others) that death undercuts meaning, in the sense that as long as our lives will have to end someday they cannot be meaningful. That certainly plays a part in why death is often perceived as the... more
It has been argued (by Max More and others) that death undercuts meaning, in the sense that as long as our lives will have to end someday they cannot be meaningful. That certainly plays a part in why death is often perceived as the greatest evil: not merely because it sets an end to our life, but because it renders all we do meaningless. It is for this reason that we allegedly need to do everything in our power to forestall the presently inevitable decline of our bodies and to extend human lifespan indefinitely. Yet there is also the opposite view that, far from taking the meaning out of life, death, or mortality, is a precondition of a meaningful life, so that an immortal life would necessarily be devoid of meaning. It is the knowledge that we have to die that makes things and people precious to us, that inspires a sense of beauty and the good, and that is ultimately the source of human dignity. This presentation will explore the issue in order to determine which of these two views is more plausible.
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It is predicted that in a decade or two our computers will have become so powerful that we will finally be able to do and be whatever we like. The posthumans that we will have become in the wake of this event, commonly referred to as the... more
It is predicted that in a decade or two our computers will have become so powerful that we will finally be able to do and be whatever we like. The posthumans that we will have become in the wake of this event, commonly referred to as the singularity, will not only be superintelligent, but also be capable of experiencing pleasures that go far beyond anything we can experience now. Yet this emphasis on pleasure, and especially sexual pleasure, seems to be at odds with the logocentric outlook and the contempt for the human body that many transhumanists embrace. What resolves the apparent conflict is an instrumental understanding of the body and the transformation of the sexual partner into a masturbation device. Various companies already sell sex robots, or sexbots, which promise to be better lovers than a real human person could ever be. Not only will they increase our sexual pleasure, well-being and life span, sexbots will also never deny us the fulfilment of our desires, because they lack the autonomy that make human lovers so unreliable. Does it matter that they are not conscious and do not really feel anything? Is there something essential lacking? Or does the fact that they cannot not love (and serve) us, that they will never leave us and will always appear welcoming and loving, actually make sexbots superior to real human lovers? Does it give them the “soul” that we crave for and that we rarely find in humans?
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Kissengers and surrogates are devices that seemingly allow bodily contact between people at a distance. What you do to or with that device at one place is immediately translated into the actions of another similar device at some other... more
Kissengers and surrogates are devices that seemingly allow bodily contact between people at a distance. What you do to or with that device at one place is immediately translated into the actions of another similar device at some other place. Yet if you have sex with a machine and your doing so directly causes another machine to have sex with another person, are you then really having sex with that person? And does it matter if you are not? If it does not, then it would seem that you don't really need that person anymore. Although the experience is mediated, it is doubtful whether there is any such thing as an immediate experience. However, it is unclear what is to be gained by engaging in fictionalised versions of communication, rather than real communication with real people.
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If the inner logic of the radical human enhancement project promoted by transhumanists demands that love be abolished because it makes us vulnerable, and sex be purified to become a pleasure of the mind, for which the body serves at best... more
If the inner logic of the radical human enhancement project promoted by transhumanists demands that love be abolished because it makes us vulnerable, and sex be purified to become a pleasure of the mind, for which the body serves at best as an exchangeable tool, but is no longer identity-defining, then it is not so much Friedrich Nietzsche whose philosophy should be regarded as a major influence for the transhumanist worldview, but rather the Marquis de Sade. This chapter examines the Marquis de Sade's philosophy of sex and his reflections on happiness, nature and liberty, and connects them to transhumanist predictions and hopes regarding our sexual future.
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Intrauterine devices and systems are today widely used to prevent conception during sexual intercourse. They have been around, in different forms, for more than a century now and have since served various purposes as diverse as the... more
Intrauterine devices and systems are today widely used to prevent conception during sexual intercourse. They have been around, in different forms, for more than a century now and have since served various purposes as diverse as the prevention of “psychosexual disturbances” (Gräfenberg), the gradual elimination of ‘bad genes’ and those deemed socially undesirable, and the attainment of sexual autonomy for women.
While medical interventions usually have the purpose of curing an injury, defect or malfunction, intrauterine devices do not. Instead of restoring the natural functioning of the human body, the coil suppresses a natural function of the body. In doing so, it widens our understanding of therapy.
This has led some commentators to describe birth control devices as human enhancement devices rather than medical therapeutic devices. The enhancement in question consists in the power to transform the human body in such a way that it better serves our individual purposes. Instead of transforming the external world, we have started to transform our own nature, but in such a way that we stay in control. Since the device is removable, we can always change our mind if our priorities change.
The coil shows that enhancement is not always the extension or augmentation of a capacity, but that it can also consist in the reduction or restriction of a capacity. Whether it is the one or the other, depends on what we want to achieve and why. This particular device can be used as a cure for various conditions that are perceived as in need of a cure. If the perception changes, it can easily happen that birth control and the device that allows it are no longer deemed therapeutic. The prevented conception can then itself become the disease and the device a harmful one.
While medical interventions usually have the purpose of curing an injury, defect or malfunction, intrauterine devices do not. Instead of restoring the natural functioning of the human body, the coil suppresses a natural function of the body. In doing so, it widens our understanding of therapy.
This has led some commentators to describe birth control devices as human enhancement devices rather than medical therapeutic devices. The enhancement in question consists in the power to transform the human body in such a way that it better serves our individual purposes. Instead of transforming the external world, we have started to transform our own nature, but in such a way that we stay in control. Since the device is removable, we can always change our mind if our priorities change.
The coil shows that enhancement is not always the extension or augmentation of a capacity, but that it can also consist in the reduction or restriction of a capacity. Whether it is the one or the other, depends on what we want to achieve and why. This particular device can be used as a cure for various conditions that are perceived as in need of a cure. If the perception changes, it can easily happen that birth control and the device that allows it are no longer deemed therapeutic. The prevented conception can then itself become the disease and the device a harmful one.
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These days it is getting increasingly difficult not to be permanently confronted with visions of a technologically enhanced humanity. Human enhancement is the latest fashion. It is exciting, enticing, cool, sexy. Philosophers fantasize... more
These days it is getting increasingly difficult not to be permanently confronted with visions of a technologically enhanced humanity. Human enhancement is the latest fashion. It is exciting, enticing, cool, sexy. Philosophers fantasize about the wonderful lives that we are all going to enjoy once we have shed our mortal shell and become posthuman (which, it is believed, will be very soon), and the media are eager to spread the good tidings and do their best to whet our appetite for our own terminal transformation into something very different. If transhumanism is a philosophy that endorses and promotes radical human enhancement, then it seems that we are all transhumanists now. This means more than just being open to change. It involves a commitment to hurry us forward into the future, driven by the deep conviction that the present condition of humanity is utterly deplorable, and in fact a diseased state. Radical human enhancement is the cure. This implies that radical human enhancement is more than just an option: it is a moral obligation. To be a transhumanist means to be a healer of humanity. What I will examine in my talk is this particular self-conception and how it is reflected in our culture.
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"This is the first part of a series of public debates on various philosophical topics, led by me, that take place in the Electric Palace in Bridport. It is part of the nationwide Philosophy in Pubs movement."... more
"This is the first part of a series of public debates on various philosophical topics, led by me, that take place in the Electric Palace in Bridport. It is part of the nationwide Philosophy in Pubs movement."
http://www.electricpalace.org.uk/foyer-events/blog/philosophy-in-pubs
http://www.electricpalace.org.uk/foyer-events/blog/philosophy-in-pubs
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I've been invited by the newly founded University of Exeter Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society to speak about "the importance of rational thinking", which I found provocative enough to prepare a talk in which I highlight the importance... more
I've been invited by the newly founded University of Exeter Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society to speak about "the importance of rational thinking", which I found provocative enough to prepare a talk in which I highlight the importance of irrational thinking.
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This one, presented at the conference "The Posthuman: Differences, Embodiments, Performativity" in Rome, is an extended version of the presentation I gave in Karlsruhe a couple of months ago.
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"I’m going to look at transhumanist and related visions of our posthuman future and study the role of sexuality in those visions. Sexuality features surprisingly often in the posthuman scenarios that are designed to sell us the idea of... more
"I’m going to look at transhumanist and related visions of our posthuman future and study the role of sexuality in those visions. Sexuality features surprisingly often in the posthuman scenarios that are designed to sell us the idea of posthuman existence.
Sex, in those visions, will of course be infinitely more intense and infinitely more pleasurable, but also unhampered by negative emotions such as jealousy or by (misplaced) moral scruples. We will be in complete control of our own bodies, will always perform perfectly. If no human is available, we will have marvellous sexbots who will be able to fulfil all our desires. If we are in danger of losing erotic interest in our partner or our partner in us, we can easily rekindle it by means of love pills that change the chemistry of our brains. Likewise, if we are in danger of loving too much and for that reason becoming too dependent, there will always be a way to tone down our love to a healthy level that leaves our autonomy intact.
I will analyse the way sexuality is framed in these scenarios, how it is informed by mythological paradigms, and use this to determine the values that inform the transhumanists and posthumanist discourse. "
Sex, in those visions, will of course be infinitely more intense and infinitely more pleasurable, but also unhampered by negative emotions such as jealousy or by (misplaced) moral scruples. We will be in complete control of our own bodies, will always perform perfectly. If no human is available, we will have marvellous sexbots who will be able to fulfil all our desires. If we are in danger of losing erotic interest in our partner or our partner in us, we can easily rekindle it by means of love pills that change the chemistry of our brains. Likewise, if we are in danger of loving too much and for that reason becoming too dependent, there will always be a way to tone down our love to a healthy level that leaves our autonomy intact.
I will analyse the way sexuality is framed in these scenarios, how it is informed by mythological paradigms, and use this to determine the values that inform the transhumanists and posthumanist discourse. "
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This is a 30-minute episode of the BBC Radio 4 series "Analysis" on transhumanism and the pursuit of immortality. It features some soundbites from an interview i gave to the BBC on the topic: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b6hzk5
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This is an interview I gave to Adam Cardilini for the weekly animal protection radio program "Freedom of Species". It was broadcast in December 2017 on 3CR community radio in Melbourne, Australia, and podcast internationally. It can be... more
This is an interview I gave to Adam Cardilini for the weekly animal protection radio program "Freedom of Species". It was broadcast in December 2017 on 3CR community radio in Melbourne, Australia, and podcast internationally. It can be accessed through this link: https://player.fm/series/126881/193825579
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More reading notes.
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Reading notes on Viktor E. Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning"
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Reading notes on a 1965 paper by John Wisdom.
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Reading notes on Kurt Baier's paper "The Meaning of Life"
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Reading notes on a paper on the meaning of life published by Daniel Hill in 2002 in Philosophy Now (35: 12-14).
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Reading notes on Benatar's latest book.
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Reading notes on Kai Nielsen's 1978 paper "Death and the Meaning of Life".
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Reading notes on Smuts's objectivist account of meaning. Not intended for publication.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Ethics, Theories of Meaning, Meaning of Life, Meaning, and 3 moreNihilism, Metaethics, and Realism
Reading notes on a new paper by John Danaher. Not intended for publication.
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Reading notes on Craig's paper.
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Reading notes on Seachris's paper. Not for publication.
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Reading notes on Pitcher's paper. Not for publication.
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Reading notes on yet another paper by Taylor on meaningfulness. Not intended for publication.
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Reading notes, not for publication.
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Reading notes on Hare's "Nothing Matters". Not intended for publication. Feedback welcome.
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Reading notes on Nagel's paper "The Absurd". Not intended for publication.
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Reading notes on Taylor's paper. Not intended for publication.
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Some thoughts on Galen Strawson's paper "Against Narrativity"
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Reading notes on Susan Wolf's Meaning in Life and Why It Matters (2010). Unpublished and not intended for publication.
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More reading notes on Meaning and Death.
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These are my reading notes on Guy Kahane's paper "Our Cosmic Insignificance ", Nous 48.4 (2014): 745-772. Publication is not intended.
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These are my "reading notes" on a recent paper by Campbell and Nyholm on "Anti-Meaning and Why It Matters". They are not intended for publication. I simply find it easier to understand things and to develop my own thinking on an issue if... more
These are my "reading notes" on a recent paper by Campbell and Nyholm on "Anti-Meaning and Why It Matters". They are not intended for publication. I simply find it easier to understand things and to develop my own thinking on an issue if I write about it. This is part of my ongoing work on Death and Meaning.
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This is an invitation to the Annual Royal Institute of Philosophy conference 2016, which will be held at the University of Exeter on the topic of moral enhancement.
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Three new posts at the Philosophy Department of the University of Liverpool to apply for. Closes 2 May 2018. Your chance to join a vibrant, expanding Department in one of Britain's culturally most exciting cities.
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We are currently advertising four new posts at the Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology at the University of Exeter: one Lectureship and one Chair in Anthropology, and one Lectureship and one Chair in Sociology. The... more
We are currently advertising four new posts at the Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology at the University of Exeter: one Lectureship and one Chair in Anthropology, and one Lectureship and one Chair in Sociology. The deadline for applications is 30 March 2016.
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This is another draft chapter for my forthcoming book on death and meaning, Living on the Edge.
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A draft chapter on Nietzsche for my forthcoming book "Living on the Edge".
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This is a draft chapter intended for the book I'm currently writing, Living on the Edge, which has been contracted by Bloomsbury and will hopefully be finished by the end of the year (2018). It is an exploration of Proust's work, with... more
This is a draft chapter intended for the book I'm currently writing, Living on the Edge, which has been contracted by Bloomsbury and will hopefully be finished by the end of the year (2018). It is an exploration of Proust's work, with particular emphasis on his views on what life is all about (or what matters in life) and our experience of death and mortality.
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This is a draft chapter for the book I am currently working on: "Living on the Edge. Philosophical Studies on Death and Meaning".
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Draft chapter for a book I'm working on, exploratory in nature.
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This is another draft chapter from the book I'm currently working on (Living on the Edge). The others that I have written so far are about Tolstoy, Camus, Kierkegaard, and William James. The goal is to mine some of the classics for their... more
This is another draft chapter from the book I'm currently working on (Living on the Edge). The others that I have written so far are about Tolstoy, Camus, Kierkegaard, and William James. The goal is to mine some of the classics for their insights into death and meaning. I am planning to write at least five more chapters: on Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, Melville, and Proust (and possibly Beckett and Montaigne). All comments welcome.
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Another study of someone who has got something to say about what gives meaning to life.
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Unpublished draft chapter for a planned monograph on philosophers' representations of the link between death and meaning.
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A study of Tolstoy's reflections on death and meaning. Publication not intended at this stage and in this form.
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Part of a larger project on the relation between "death and meaning", this is a preliminary study of what Camus had to say about the matter. I have no intention of trying to get it published at this time, but I am planning to eventually... more
Part of a larger project on the relation between "death and meaning", this is a preliminary study of what Camus had to say about the matter. I have no intention of trying to get it published at this time, but I am planning to eventually use it for a book on Death and Meaning.
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Just a quote, and a very brief comment.
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This chapter examines the importance of atmosphere in understanding our experiences of zoos. It focuses in particular on the role played by sound in the production of atmospheres in the zoo context. Zoos often work hard to generate... more
This chapter examines the importance of atmosphere in understanding our experiences of zoos. It focuses in particular on the role played by sound in the production of atmospheres in the zoo context. Zoos often work hard to generate atmospheres which are appropriate to their purpose as sites for entertainment, education and increasingly, conservation and the encouragement of environmentally responsible behaviour. Drawing on first hand experiences and observations of zoo visiting, the chapter considers some of the different types of atmosphere that zoos create, pointing to some of the ways in which atmospheres may allude or resist the attempts made to direct or construct them. The chapter also suggests that the non-human animals kept in zoos are likely to have their own atmospheric experiences of zoo space, which are perhaps very different in character from those of visitors and staff. We argue that zoos are atmospherically heterogeneous and complex, and face continual challenges as they try to design and maintain atmospheres in line with institutional aims and visitor expectations. A key atmospheric challenge for zoos is to reconcile visitors' desire to observe and experience forms of natural and ecological otherness with the realities of managing and displaying closely controlled animal populations.