Transhumanism and the Survival of Transcendence: How Integration Can Save the Future of Humanity

This article advances the conversation between the secular transhumanist movement and the traditionally Christian personalistic thought concerning the future of the human person. More specifically, it addresses the question of whether transcending the human condition by means of technology toward the posthuman state, as postulated by transhumanism, is a viable and beneficial option for man. To answer this question, the article discusses the concept of transcendence in the works of the transhumanists (primarily the German transhumanist and metahumanist Stefan Lorenz Sorgner) compared to those of the Christian personalistic philosopher Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) and his concepts of transcendence and integration. The article develops a corrective to transhumanism by proposing integration as an effective solution for preserving and developing humanity’s possibilities precisely through transcendence. Various threats to transcendence in transhumanism impede the enhancement of the human species and individual persons. These threats include, among others, the loss of interstage continuity, a degradation of integration, and the primacy of external means of improvement. The article also recognizes transhumanism’s attempt to surpass nature’s determination of transcendence by positing nihilism at its foundation. The article’s argument does not offer practical solutions for technological enhancement and, in its method and scope, draws on the resources of philosophy without recourse to Christian Revelation and theology. Instead, the article proposes a realignment of the transhumanist movement with Karol Wojtyła’s realistic and personalistic thought.