The Pneumopathic Genesis of Human Enhancement

  1. Gaitán, Leandro 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona
Revista:
Scientia et fides

ISSN: 2300-7648

Año de publicación: 2024

Título del ejemplar: The Dynamic Theodicy Model: Understanding God, Evil, and Evolution

Volumen: 12

Número: 1

Páginas: 231-247

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.12775/SETF.2024.011 WoS: WOS:001203440300004 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Scientia et fides

Resumen

The philosopher Byung-Chul Han affirms that the present age reduces the human being to a performance-machine, and that, because of this reduction, the type of disease that characterizes it this age is neuronal. In the present article, I argue that Han’s analysis is correct but incomplete. Behind this reductionism, which leads to neuropathologies of different types, lies another type of pathology that the philosopher Eric Voegelin calls ‘pneumopathology’—disease of the spirit. The transhumanist view of human enhancement deepens this reduction and shows that the pneumopathology that blights today’s society is in a process of unprecedented chronification. To justify this thesis, I first explain the connection between human enhancement and the achievement imperative denounced by Han; I then analyze the Voegelian category of pneumopathology to show its value for an ontological-historical understanding of human enhancement.

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