Our (Post)human Future: The posthuman in Plessnerian Perspective

This thesis uses Helmuth Plessner’s philosophical anthropology to analyze the question whether the posthuman is a goal that can be realized. The posthuman is understood in multiple ways, following Steve Fuller’s distinction these are distinguished in transhumanist and posthumanist conceptualizations of the posthuman. Subsequently Plessner’s law of the utopian standpoint is introduced. It is pointed out that the utopian standpoint follows from the awareness of the constitutive homelessness of humanity. The human being attempts to construct himself a ground to stand but this never lasts, Being aware of this deficit humans search for the ground of the world, the necessary being which rests in itself, which Plessner refers to as the ultimate counter weight of the human imbalance, or God. Based on this framework the question whether the posthuman is a goal that can be realized is analyzed.