Posthumanism or Plushumanism
Abstract
The paper aims to compare two contemporary conceptions of man. Posthumanism, based solely on natural and biological principles, sees man as a project subjected to constant change. It outlines the prospects for man’s development resulting from technical and biotechnological manipulations. The main postulations of this trend in thinking are: prolonging biological life; improving human health and well-being; fusion of the human brain with artificial intelligence and transferring human consciousness to a non-biological carrier in order to make it immortal. Plushumanism, based on the personalistic concept of the human person and on supernatural premises, formulates a response to posthumanist postulations, by presenting man as an ontological being; a psycho-physical unity, characterized by an unchanging spiritual nature, and, as a child of God. Man is called to personal development, not only on the natural, but also on the supernatural level. It is possible for all people to achieve their fullness and immortality based on the historical fact of Christ’s resurrection and the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures. Man’s ultimate destiny is immortality and complete happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven, which he enters, not as anima separata, but as the unity of the soul and the transfigured body (soma pneumatikon). The growth of his humanity is not determined by genetic or pharmacological enhancement, but by spiritual wealth, manifested in love and the attitude of giving oneself to others.
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