Risking human dignity? Reflections on transhumanist understandings of education

Abstract Transhumanists profess a commitment to the betterment of humanity by transcending human nature and taking control of evolution through scientific interventions that realize humanity’s inherent potentialities. The authors question transhumanist assumptions vis-à-vis education and the understanding of the person, with specific reference to leading metahumanist Stefan Sorgner. He argues that, according to the theory of evolution, it is no longer possible to claim that only humans count as persons. He maintains that personhood depends on morally relevant capacities and views education as structurally analogous to genetic enhancement. This rejects the Judeo-Christian and humanistic understanding that only humans in this connection count as persons. Sorgner opposes the humanist ontology, eschewing the Kantian moral injunction to never treat a person solely as a means. This principle, which rests on the distinction between persons and things, has safeguarded human dignity. If this distinction is dissolved and no longer applies as a presupposition for educational thinking, as Sorgner desires, this will also have lasting consequences for our understanding of the task of education and Bildung. In response to Sorgner, the authors critically consider his posthuman paradigm shift, which asserts that some animals may become persons and that sufficiently developed artificial intelligences (AIs) might also warrant the status of personhood. Integral to the authors’ discussion is an understanding of personhood and education in the humanistic tradition, with reference to Kant and Gadamer. The uniqueness of human beings as persons, as well as embodied human dignity, are here deemed to be at risk.