Designating “human” versus “other” in a post-human world: A pragmatic approach to the problem of human essence
Humanities
Phil 190
This paper reads as a narrative which seeks to arrive at a pragmatic solution to the problem of human essence, and by doing so, develop criteria which will assist in making a decision as to who or what might be designated human in the post-human future. I propose a pluralistic concept of human which will eliminate existing problems in the ways “human” has been used in the past and present, as well as serving as a model with which we can decide what post-human era organisms we will designate human (or not human) in the future. I argue that the application of the new human concept will serve to improve upon the social relations of both today and tomorrow.
