On the Human ConditionThe potential to clone, augment, and repair human beings is pushing the very concept of the human to its limit. Fantasies and metaphors of a supposedly monstrous and inhuman future increasingly dominate films, art and popular culture. On the Human Condition is an invigorating and fascinating exploration of where the idea of the human stands today. Given the damage human beings have inflicted on each other and their environment throughout history, should we embrace humanism or try and overcome it? Dominique Janicaud explores these urgent questions and more. He argues that whilst we need to avoid apocalyptic talk of a post human condition, as embodied in technology such as cloning, we should neither fall back on a conservative humanism nor become technophobic. Drawing on illuminating examples such as genetic engineering, the novel Frankenstein, the legendary debate between Sartre and Heidegger over humanism, and the work of Primo Levi, Domnique Janicaud also explores the role of fantasy in understanding the human condition and asks where the line lies between the human, inhuman and the superhuman. |
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ambiguity angel anti-humanist Axel Kahn biological century Claude Lévi-Strauss clonage contemporary critique Cyborg danger of monsters debate Dominique Janicaud double frenzy Edgar Morin enigma Ernst Jünger ethical ethnology evil evolution extreme fact fantasies foreseeable risks forms Foucault fragile Frankenstein future genetic global Heidegger calls Heidegger's Heideggerian horizon humaine Paris Human Condition human sciences humanism the last humanist Ibid ideological intelligence irrationality Janicaud writes L'homme va-t-il dépasser last resort Lévi-Strauss limits London man's humanity Martin Heidegger metaphysics métaphysique Monde monstrousness moral mutation myth mythical Nietzsche Nietzschean ourselves overcoming of overcoming paradox partage Pascal Penguin Books Peter Sloterdijk philosophical physical possible post-human potentialization Primo Levi puissance du rationnel question R. J. Hollingdale radically rationality reality regression reproductive cloning Sartre science fiction scientific sense Simon Critchley Sloterdijk superhuman Superman technical techno-discourse techno-science THINKING IN ACTION thought tion Titans trans Truong unforeseeable University utopia word