The Hidden Religious Dimension of Posthumanism

A Commentary on Francesca Ferrando's Philosophical Posthumanism

Abstract

Since the end of the twentieht century, the intellectual movements of trans- and post-humanism have gained growing awarness in the humanities and social sciences, but also in a broader public. As Francesca Ferrando makes very clear in her brilliant and thought provoking introduction to Philosophical Posthumanism, both currents are connected in many ways but should nevertheless be sharply distinguished from each other: Whereas transhumanism develops visions of human enhancement via technology, posthumanism ismuch more a critical enterprise which reflects on problematic an thropocentrisms in all domains of natural and social life. As such, according to the first sentence of Ferrando’s book, “Posthumanism is the philosophy of our time” (Ferrando, 2019a, 1). A great deal of posthumanism’s attractivity is probably due to its astonishing unifying force. Many important critical movements and theoretical approaches who used to be practiced separatedly from each other seem to converge in philosophical posthumanism.