The Ethics of Generating Posthumans

Calum MacKellar is Director of Research of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Trevor Stammers is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies at St Mary’s University, London, UK.

A note on the text

List of contributors

Faith perspectives

Introduction: Calum MacKellar (Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, UK) and Trevor Stammers

Part I Who is a transhuman and posthuman person?

1. The concept of a ‘person’ and its history, Michael Fuchs (Catholic University of Linz, Austria)

2. One of us: Humans, transhumans and posthumans, Richard Playford (St Mary's University, UK)

3. Remaining human: The philosophy of Charles Taylor aimed at the ethics of generating trans- and posthuman persons, Gregory Parker Jr. (University of Edinburgh, UK)

4. Being somebody: Towards a categorical imperative for the age of transhumanism, Christian Hölzchen

Part II How can transhuman and posthuman persons be generated?

5. On the scientific plausibility of transhumanism, Chris Willmott (University of Leicester, UK)

Part III Philosophical aspects in generating transhuman and posthuman persons

6. Domination and vulnerability: Herman Bavinck and posthumanism in the shadow of Friedrich Nietzsche, James Eglinton (University of Edinburgh, UK)

7. The question of technology and relationships: How might Martin Heidegger’s idea of enframing shape how posthuman persons and their generators relate to one another? Matthew James (St Mary's University, UK)

8. Deliver us from (artificial) evil: Are the generators of Artificial Intelligences morally accountable for the actions of those they generate? Trevor Stammers

Part IV Theological aspects in generating transhuman and posthuman persons

9. A Jewish outlook: A Jewish case study in creating transhuman and posthuman persons, Deborah Blausten (Finchley Reform Synagogue, London)

10. A Christian outlook: The rational body: A Thomistic perspective on parenthood and posthumanism, Michael Wee (Durham University, UK)

11. An Islamic outlook: Islamic perspectives on the ethics of bringing transhuman and posthuman persons into existence Mehrunisha Suleman (University of Cambridge, UK)

Part V Ethical aspects in generating transhuman and posthuman persons

12 Procreating transhuman and posthuman persons, Calum MacKellar (St Mary's University, UK)

13 Posthuman children: Questions of identity, Gillian Wright (Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, UK)

Conclusion Calum MacKellar (Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, UK) and Trevor Stammers

Appendix: Scottish Council on Human Bioethics recommendations on the generation of transhuman and posthuman persons

Index