The New Gnosis and the Denial of Ontological Differences

  • Jesús Ballesteros University of Valencia (Spain)
Keywords: Boundary-Situations, Creation, Gender Ideology, Indefinitive Growth, Transhumanism

Abstract

The current transhumanist or posthumanist movements continue the thesis of the old gnosis devaluing the creation like something imperfect. Its novelty is to believe in the possibility of overcoming the creation thanks to technology (biotechnology and bionics). The ideology of gender partly anticipates this way of thinking by devaluing the somatic difference between male and female. This denial of the differences then applies to those existing between the human and the non-human (on one side the primates, and on the other the computer). Posthumanism and transhumanism believe that technology will not only overcome the ontological differences, which form the human, but also the so-called extreme situations, such as illness, suffering and death itself. In this case, by copying the brain information as software to a hard disk. The intellectual myopia of these movements is clear: they reduce the scope of knowledge to mere genetic or electronic information, denying knowledge and, more importantly, wisdom. Their current success is due to their connection with the central thesis of financial capitalism: the need for total manipulation of the real and indefinite growth. Far from advancing the human being, they create malfunctions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Jesús Ballesteros, University of Valencia (Spain)

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy of the University of Valencia (Spain)

References

Alba Rico, S. (2007). Capitalismo y nihilismo. Dialéctica del hambre y de la mirada. Akal.
Ballesteros, J. (1998). La constitución de la imagen actual del hombre. Tópicos: Revista de Filosofía, 15 (2), 9-29.
Ballesteros, J. (2007a). Sergio Cotta y los retos del siglo XXI. Persona y Derecho, 57, 71-80.
Ballesteros, J. (2007b). Biotecnología, biopolítica y posthumanismo. In Ballesteros, J. & Fernández, E. (eds.), Biotecnología y posthumanismo, 21-46. Thompson.
Ballesteros, J. (2009). Seguridad humana, derechos y políticas públicas. In Mediterranean Meeting of Young Jurists (Fórum Jávea de Vecindad), Retos de la Justicia Global, 53-59.
Ballesteros, J. (2015). FIVET y medicina del deseo. Medicina y Ética: Revista Internacional de Bioética, Deontología y Ética Médica, 25 (4), 509-516.
Ballesteros, J. (2021). Domeñar las finanzas, cuidar la naturaleza. Tirant lo Blanch.
Ballesteros Soriano, A. (2020). Digitocracy. Ruling and Being Rules. Philosophies, 5 (2), 1-13. DOI: 10.3390/philosophies5020009
Bellver, V. (2021). Transhumanismo, discurso transgénero y digitalismo: ¿exigencias de justicia o efectos del espíritu de abstracción? Persona y Derecho, 84.
Benedicto XVI (2005). Creación y pecado. Eunsa.
Borges, J. L. (1944). Funes el memorioso. In Ficciones. Editorial Sur.
Butler, J. (2007). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.
Chesterton G. K. (1950). Ortodoxia. In Obras (I). Aguilar.
Commoner, B. (1971). The Closing Circle: Nature, Man, and Technology. Knopf.
Eliot, T. S. (1958). The Complete Poems and Plays. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
Epicteto (1983). The Handbook (The Encheiridion). Hackett.
Faggioni, M. (2009). La natura fluida: le sfide dell’ibridazione, della transgenesi, del transumanesimo. Studia Moralia, 47 (2), 387-436.
Fernández, E. (2007). Crítica filosófica del posthumanismo. In Ballesteros, J. & Fernández, E. (eds.), Biotecnología y posthumanismo, 81-108. Thompson.
Fernández, E. & Aparisi, A. (2021). Hacia un modelo de sexo-género de igualdad en la diferencia. Tirant lo Blanch.
Frankl, V. (1975). Der leidende Mensch. Anthropologische Grundlagen der Psychotherapie. Huber, Bern.
Frankl, V. (1977). Man’s Search for Meaning. An Introduction to Logotherapy. Beacon Press.
Harari, Y. N. (2016). Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow. Harper Collins.
Haraway, D. (2003). Cyborg, Coyotes, and Dogs: A Kinship of Feminist Figurations and There are Always More Things Going on Than You Thought! Methodologies as Thinking Technologies. Routledge.
Heidegger, M. (23-IX-1966). Interview of 23, IX, 1966, “Nur noch ein Gott kann uns rette”. Der Spiegel.
Illich, I. (1975). Némesis médica. La expropiación de la salud. Seix Barral.
Jaspers, K. (1959). Filosofía (II). Universidad de Puerto Rico.
Jonas, H. (1963). The Gnostic Religion. Beacon Paperback.
Kurzweil, R. (2008). La singolarità e vicina. Feltrinelli.
Kurzweil, R. (2009). Transcend. Nine Steps to Living Well for Ever. Rodale Inc.
Kurzweil, R. & Grossmann, V. (2004). Fantastic Voyage. Live Long Enough to Live Forever. Rodale Books.
Lafontaine, C. (2008). La Société postmortelle. La mort, l’individu et le lien social à l’ère des technosciences. Seuil.
Llano, A. (1999). Humanismo cívico. Ariel.
Llano Alonso, F. (2018). Homo excelsior. Los límites ético-jurídicos del transhumanismo. Tirant lo Blanch.
Lyotard, F. (1984). The Postmodern Condition. University of Minnesota Press.
Money, J. (1996). Man and Woman, Boy & Girl: Gender Identity from Conception to Maturity. Jason Aronson.
Moravec, H. (1988). Mind Children. The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence. Harvard University Press.
Nietzsche, F. (1989). Also sprach Zarathustra. In Werke. Walter de Gruyter.
Palazzani, L. (2008). Identità di genere? Dalla differenza alla in-differenzan sessuales nel diritto. Cinisello Balsamo.
Palazzani, L. (2011). Sex/gender. Gliequivoci dell’uguglianza. Giappichelli.
Perucchieti, E. & Marletta, G. (2015). Unisex. Cancellare l’identità sessuale, la nuova arma della manipolazione globale. Arianna.
Pfister, W. (2014). Transcendence [película]. Warner Bros.
Postigo, E. (2009). Transumanesimo e postumano: principi teorici e implicazioni bioteche. Medicina e Morale, 2, 267-282.
Ptolemy, R. B. (2009). Transcendent Man [película]. Ptolemaic Productions, Therapy Content.
Sanger, M. (1922). Woman, Morality and Birth Control. New York Publishing Company.
Sanmartín, J. (1987). Los nuevos redentores. Reflexiones sobre la ingeniería genética, la sociobiología y el mundo feliz que nos prometen. Anthropos.
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the Self. The Making of the Modern Identity. Harvard University Press.
Vinge, V. (1993). Technological Singularity, Whole Earth Review. Winter.
Virilio, P. (1999). Politics of the Very Worst. Semiotext(e).
Voegelin, E. (1986). The Political Religions. E. Mellen Press.
Voegelin, E. (1987). The New Science of Politics: An Introduction. University of Chicago Press.
Zubiri, X. (1990). Inteligencia sentiente. Alianza.
Published
2021-04-11
How to Cite
Ballesteros, J. (2021). The New Gnosis and the Denial of Ontological Differences. Ius Humani. Law Journal, 10(1), 151-166. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31207/ih.v10i1.261