Both transhumanists and observers often see “transhumans”, or technologically enhanced humans, as abnormal because they judge them the normative standard of “normal”, unenhanced humans. However, a phenomenological analysis of the discourse of transhumans calls for more nuance. We propose a typology of normality and normativity with five ways of looking at the difference between human and transhuman. The first type is the classical view: the human is the normal and normative being, in relation to which the transhuman is outside the norm. The second type blurs normality/normativity, so that humans and transhumans are both seen as normal. The third type reverses the classic view: it makes the transhuman the normal and normative being, in relation to whom the human is abnormal because deficient. In the fourth type, the human is seen as normal but the transhuman is the norm. In the fifth type, today’s human being is seen as transhuman, because his environment is technological. This typology invites us to make the vision of the transhumanist movement more complex, by differentiating between various irreducible tendencies within it.

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The Quest to Become Normal: Phenomenology of the Transhuman

  • Stanislas Deprez

摘要

Both transhumanists and observers often see “transhumans”, or technologically enhanced humans, as abnormal because they judge them the normative standard of “normal”, unenhanced humans. However, a phenomenological analysis of the discourse of transhumans calls for more nuance. We propose a typology of normality and normativity with five ways of looking at the difference between human and transhuman. The first type is the classical view: the human is the normal and normative being, in relation to which the transhuman is outside the norm. The second type blurs normality/normativity, so that humans and transhumans are both seen as normal. The third type reverses the classic view: it makes the transhuman the normal and normative being, in relation to whom the human is abnormal because deficient. In the fourth type, the human is seen as normal but the transhuman is the norm. In the fifth type, today’s human being is seen as transhuman, because his environment is technological. This typology invites us to make the vision of the transhumanist movement more complex, by differentiating between various irreducible tendencies within it.