Posthuman Corporeality: Rethinking Human Nature

The article problematizes the notion of the immutability of human nature in the light of modern scientific achievements, which force us to reconsider the usual views on the human body. The article problematizes the concept of corporeality. According to the author’s position, corporeality is a multilayered structure that includes biological, social, and individual dimensions. The body is presented not only as a physical object but also as a cultural construct formed through social practice and technological innovations. Three dimensions of corporeality are highlighted to distinguish the material substratum in man, their individual territory for the realization of their own projects, and the sphere of influence on the physical body of social institutions. The changing appearance of the human body under the influence of advances in biomedical engineering, pharmacology, and cybernetics is analyzed. For example, the active use of 3D organ printing technology, genome editing with CRISPR-Cas9, bionic prostheses, and neuro-implants are expanding the boundaries of our concept of the body and the body’s potential, sharpening the question of the human body. It is revealed that the traditional links between humans and the non anthropic in culture and science are now being reconsidered. The ideas of posthumanist philosophers, who offer a new view of the human being not as a sovereign and autonomous being, but as an actor in a complex network of relations with non-anthropic entities of different kinds – from biological beings to technological formations – are considered. Based on the ideas of philosophers such as Ray Kurzweil and Rosi Braidotti, it is concluded that today there is a posthumanist tendency to consider the body as a hybrid entity, a union of nature and artificial technologies, which in the future will lead to the emergence of a posthuman existence, where human identity will be blurred to such an extent that it may practically cease to exist.