June 20-21, 2023 (Nijmegen) - "More than a machine". On the Human Being in Kant and post-Kantian Philosophy (original) (raw)
Related papers
Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 2022
While the concept of “second nature” has received remarkable attention in recent years, the discussion has mainly focused on neo-Aristotelian accounts. In this paper, I develop a neglected post-Kantian alternative. Instead of focusing solely on the model of habit, this conception shifts our attention to a different paradigm for second nature: the work of art. Following Kant’s account in the third critique, producing a work of art can be understood as the production of an “other nature”, expressive of freedom. As the post-Kantian tradition from Schiller and Hegel to Marx and Nietzsche suggests, the work of art can thus serve as a model for the kind of second nature we require in order to realize an ethical life. Thus, the production of an ethical second nature is not a matter of mere habituation, but a challenging “art”: it is an aesthetic task, a complex dialectical exercise, and a social practice of objectification. This conception of second nature not only allows us to grasp the relation of freedom and nature more adequately than the dominant neo-Aristotelian conceptions – it also opens up a critical perspective on our contemporary aesthetic self-understanding.
Slaves to the Machine: Understanding the Paradox of Transhumanism
Philosophical Disquisitions
This is the text of a keynote lecture I delivered to the 'Transcending Humanity' conference at Tubingen University on the 13th July 2017. It discusses the alleged tension between the transhumanist ideal of biological freedom and the glorification of technological means to that freedom. In the talk, I argue that the tension is superficial because the concept of freedom is multidimensional.
2018
The transhumanist movement has been hailed as optimistic and forward thinking in itsambition to “ascend humanity beyond its biological constraints” and bring it to the next stage of evolution. However, critics such as Nicholas Le Dévédec have claimed that the movement represents a reversal of the Enlightenment project of autonomy, despite claims otherwise. In this paper, we shall adopt the perspective of the moral philosophy of an Enlightenmentthinker important for the democratic thought of the era: Immanuel Kant. With an emphasis on Kant’s conception of Dignity and the second formulation of the categorical imperative, the study shows that Kantianism is irreconcilable with transhumanism. The findings not only expand upon Dévédec’s claims, but also emphasizes the potential of dignity as a concept in delineating the limits and use of enhancement technology.
Introduction to Beyond Posthumanism
Beyond Posthumanism: The German Humanist Tradition and the Future of the Humanities, 2020
Kant, Goethe, Schiller and other eighteenth-century German intellectuals loom large in the history of the humanities—both in terms of their individual achievements and their collective embodiment of the values that inform modern humanistic inquiry. Taking full account of the manifold challenges that the humanities face today, this volume recasts the question of their viability by tracing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. Through insightful analyses of key texts, Alexander Mathäs mounts a broad defense of the humanistic tradition, emphasizing its pursuit of a universal ethics and ability to render human experiences comprehensible through literary imagination.