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The evolution of transhumanism from the seventeenth to the twentieth century

Document Type : .

Authors

1 Ph.D candidate in philosophy of education, Department of Fundamentals of Education, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Shiraz University.

2 Assistant professor, Department of Fundamentals of Education, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Shiraz University.

Abstract

Overshadowed by the leading and well-known theories in the history of philosophy, some of the ideas of philosophers have always been neglected or less considered. The passage of time and the emergence of modern issues reveal new dimensions of such thoughts. Thinkers of this movement claim that transhumanism holds deep historical-philosophical roots, and above all, they seek historical aspects of transhumanism in the era of modernism and modern philosophy. In this paper, we examine the evolution of transhumanism in the history of philosophy from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Our results show that there have been many thinkers in the history of philosophy who have firmly believed in the advancement of man through technology, and have combined it with their philosophical ideas. They believed that many aspects of human nature, biology, and culture could be changed, strengthened, or eventually overcome using technology and human ingenuity. Although the capability of science and technology of the time was not such as to allow them to experiment most of their transhumanistic ambitions, put forwarding these ambitions made a historical-philosophical evolutionary trend that transhumanists use today to justify their ideas.

Keywords

References
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Philosophy of Science
Volume 12, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
February 2023
Pages 213-236
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