Transhumanism: the friendly face of the overhuman and the comic book Superman
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11240%2F23%3A10474248" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11240/23:10474248 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=8h9qeh8rzf" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=8h9qeh8rzf</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sem-2023-0119" target="_blank" >10.1515/sem-2023-0119</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Transhumanism: the friendly face of the overhuman and the comic book Superman
Original language description
The core of the study is a critical comparison of Nietzsche's notion of ubermensch, and its transhumanist rewriting into different variants of the posthuman. The first part contextualizes transhumanist thought, primarily in relation to certain evolutionary ideas that, in their totality, exhibit a fundamental anthropological deficit: they speak of the evolutionary overcoming of human, but the limit of sensibility that attempts to imagine a future human being is only the mere negation of what human has been so far. In this way, the posthuman is not removed from the somewhat vague context of the technological "extension" of previous humanity. In this respect, the whole concept is grossly unaesthetic. The second part shows that Nietzsche's rethinking of the overhuman was intertwined with other anthropological structures, for example, the idea of Mitfreude ('shared joy'), which is supposed to creatively (in the manner of art) replace the morally misleading notion of compassion. The ubermensch therefore enabled Nietzsche to propose a different conception of intersubjectivity; one that would no longer be reduced to contempt for the human being. The third section traces the causes of the transhumanist failure in productive imagination. It is based on the hypothesis that this failure is driven by an unconscious preference for the figure of the comic book Superman. It postulates, through a Kantian conception of the sublime, that an adequate elaboration of the image of the posthuman cannot do without an affective component that would allow for Bejahung ('affirmation'). Only the artificial will always appear, to some degree, as alien, and therefore will never transcend the limits of reactive adaptation. A living posthuman could only emerge if he offered anthropological techniques of the art of living. Therefore, transhumanism continuously raises anthropological questions, especially regarding the problem of the extent to which the artificiality of art can be identified with technology. Without proper answers, it will not achieve the complexity of Nietzsche's overhuman, and will always only dilute him into technological supplements. The posthuman will come into being when he is conceived as a grandiose work of art.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60401 - Arts, Art history
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA22-17984S" target="_blank" >GA22-17984S: Focal images: Violence and Inhumanism in contemporary art and media culture</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2023
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Semiotica
ISSN
0037-1998
e-ISSN
1613-3692
Volume of the periodical
2023
Issue of the periodical within the volume
254
Country of publishing house
DE - GERMANY
Number of pages
26
Pages from-to
81-106
UT code for WoS article
001095963300001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85175341344