Michael Hauskeller

University of Liverpool | UoL · Department of Philosophy

While being rooted in the academic discourse, The Things That Really Matter comprehensively explores the most fundamental aspects of human life in an accessible, non-technical language, adding fresh perspectives and new arguments and considerations that are designed to stimulate further debate and, in some cases, a deliberate redirection of researc...

Famously, Bernard Williams has argued that although death is an evil if it occurs when we still have something to live for, we have no good reason to desire that our lives be radically extended because any such life would at some point reach a stage when we become indifferent to the world and ourselves. This is supposed to be so bad for us that it...

It is argued that any truly intelligent AI poses an incalculable risk for humanity because a truly intelligent being will be able to think for itself, which entails the possibility that it will come to (both theoretical and practical) conclusions that are very different from ours and do not serve our interests. What makes this a likely outcome is t...

This chapter examines the importance of atmosphere in understanding our experiences of zoos. It focuses in particular on the role played by sound in the production of atmospheres in the zoo context. Zoos often work hard to generate atmospheres which are appropriate to their purpose as sites for entertainment, education and conservation, and the enc...

It has been argued that we have a moral obligation to explore human germline modification in order to create the best possible children. In contrast, this chapter argues that in order to flourish as human beings we need to recognize that there are many different ways of being good and that the pursuit of happiness is most likely to succeed not in t...

This essay is a reflection on our lived experience of being human, or of some prominent aspects of being human, in light of rising demands to use already existing and soon to be developed technologies to fundamentally change what we are. The aspects the essay focuses on are, first, our existential vulnerability and, second, our desire to live a lif...

Climate change is one of the most urgent global problems that we face today. The causes are well understood and many solutions have been proposed; however, so far none have been successful. Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu have argued that this is because our moral psychology is ill-equipped to deal with global problems such as this. They propos...

In Phenomenological Bioethics: Medical Technologies, Human Suffering, and the Meaning of Being Alive, the Swedish philosopher Fredrik Svenaeus aims to show how the continental tradition of phenomenology can enrich bioethical debates by adding important but often‐ignored perspectives, namely, that of lived experience. Phenomenology focuses not on su...

It has been argued that, due to our commitment to distributive justice and fairness, we have a moral obligation toward animals to enhance, or “uplift,” them to quasihuman status, so that they, too, can enjoy all the intellectual, social, and cultural goods that humans are capable of enjoying. In this article, I look at the underlying assumption tha...

Alle klagen ständig darüber, dass sie keine Zeit hätten. Keine Zeit für dies, keine Zeit für jenes. Gewöhnlich ist das, weil wir mit anderen Dingen beschäftigt sind, die unsere ganze Zeit ausfüllen. Daran ließe sich im Prinzip etwas ändern. Wir bräuchten nur unsere Prioritäten zu ändern.

This chapter asks the question whether sexual and/or romantic relationships with robots could ever be as satisfying as the real thing. Three main arguments are made. First, if we assume that robots will be not be real persons and instead simply behave and act as if they are persons (“pseudo-persons”) then love and sex with them will never be as sat...

It has been argued that moral bioenhancement is desirable even if it would make it impossible for us to do what is morally required. Others find this apparent loss of freedom deplorable. However, it is difficult to see how a world in which there is no moral evil can plausibly be regarded as worse than a world in which people are not only free to do...

Written from a broadly atheist point of view, this paper explores the religious dimension of moral experience, that is, whether in order to be moral and/or to live a life that in our own eyes means something it is necessary to believe in something that transcends what we can verify through science or direct observation and even what we can clearly...

This chapter critically analyses the common claim that human enhancement is not only morally permissible, but also morally obligatory, which is believed to follow from the fact that our natural abilities are not evenly distributed and that what we can and cannot do is to a large extent the result of a “genetic lottery”. Repudiating the claim that “...

This chapter looks at the ambivalent relation that transhumanism has to religion, and particularly to the idea of God. While most transhumanists reject religion as an anti-progressive force, some understand transhumanism itself as an alternative religion or try to incorporate their transhumanist convictions into a Christian worldview. Yet even thos...

positively connoted concept of (human) nature, according to which nature is not that which needs to be overcome, but rather both that which enables us to go beyond those “natural” limitations and that for the sake of which we should go beyond them. We turn against nature as limitation, as we must precisely because it is our nature to do so. As Greg...

This chapter examines the increasing integration of the radical human enhancement project into the cultural mainstream. Transhumanism leads the way by pointing out the deficiencies of our nature and presenting radical human enhancement as the urgently needed cure. Tracing this particular self-conception (called the “enhancement-therapy identity the...

This chapter introduces the notion of myth and its relevance for the understanding of transhumanism and the radical human enhancement movement. Hauskeller explains how transhumanist arguments in support of radical human enhancement rely on the plausibility of certain narratives about what it means to be human and what a good human life consists in....

does it mean to be human? Is there something like the human essence, something that we all have in common and that defines what we are? And will our radically enhanced descendants of the future still be humans—better humans no doubt, but still preserving the same human essence—or will they rather be emphatically post-human?"?>This chapter is a refl...

This chapter offers a discussion of transhumanism as a form of utopianism. Transhumanist writings are rich with utopian ideas and images that can be traced back to ancient and medieval myths, dreams and hopes. The proposed transition from the human to the post-human via radical enhancement is typically justified by a speculative account of all the...

In this chapter, Hauskeller looks into robots designed to replace real human person as sexual companions. Guided by the question of whether robots can ever be as satisfying as a real human companion and lover, Hauskeller uncovers a paradox at the heart of the transhumanist agenda: that perfect autonomy requires complete detachment. In order to incr...

Starting with a brief discussion of transhumanist humanism and the value of autonomy, this chapter analyses and deconstructs the transhumanist commitment to animal rights and the well-being of all sentient beings. Some transhumanists have argued that such a commitment entails a moral imperative to help non-human animals overcome their biological li...

This chapter focuses on the transhumanist idea that our biological bodies are essentially deficient by limiting our freedom, being easily destructible, and ultimately condemning us to die. After exploring the appeal machines have as a model for (post)human existence, Hauskeller analyses our efforts to become more machine-like, distinguishing four d...

The possibility of moral bioenhancement, and the alleged need for it, have been widely discussed both in ethics journals and the media since this type of enhancement was first proposed in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 2008. Most prominently, Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu have argued that humans in their current condition are simply not goo...

Parens (2015) defends a habit of thinking he calls "binocularity," which involves switching between analytical lenses (much as one must switch between seeing the duck vs. the rabbit in Wittgenstein's famous example). Applying this habit of thought to a range of debates in contemporary bioethics, Parens urges us to acknowledge the ways in which our...

The Art of Misunderstanding Critics - Volume 25 Issue 1 - MICHAEL HAUSKELLER

What does popular culture's relationship with cyborgs, robots, vampires and zombies tell us about being human? Insightful scholarly perspectives shine a light on how film and television evince and portray the philosophical roots, the social ramifications and the future visions of a posthumanist world. © Michael Hauskeller, Thomas D. Philbeck and Cu...

Ephemeroi, the ancient Greeks called us: those who live only for a day. Mortality defines our existence. Only the gods are immortal and can hope to live forever. Although (other) animals, too, are mortal, at least they don’t know that they are. They don’t have to worry about it. We, on the other hand, worry about death constantly. Even small childr...

Cary Wolfe begins his widely known book What Is Posthumanism? (2010) by announcing the results of a Google search. He reports that at the time of his writing (summer 2008) the search word ‘humanism’ yielded 3,840,000 hits, while the word ‘posthumanism’ gave him only 60,200. Wolfe concludes from these data that, apparently, ‘humanism is alive and we...

In an age characterised by an increasing integration of advanced technology into our everyday lives, posthumanism has developed into a major intellectual force. It affects research agendas, economic developments, social policies, philosophical theories, and ultimately the way we understand ourselves. This handbook provides a comprehensive overview...

This book examines the dependence of transhumanist arguments on the credibility of the narratives of meaning in which they are embedded. By taking the key ideas from transhumanist philosophy - the desirability of human self-design and immortality, the elimination of all suffering and the expansion of human autonomy - Michael Hauskeller explores the...

This is a critique of Earp, Sandberg and Savulescu's argument in support of a possible future neuromodulation of love and love-related relationships. I argue that, contrary to what is suggested by Earp, Sandberg and Savulescu, we do have good reason to be concerned about that possibility as well as about the medicalization of love that its pursuit...

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of Hans Jonas’s work on ethics and its ontological foundations. Jonas’s philosophical work can be understood as an elaborate attack on cosmic nihilism, which is the view that ultimately nothing matters, that all values are man-made and just reflect our transitory interests, so that nothing is in itself...

Ephemeroi, the ancient Greeks called us: those who live only for a day. Mortality defines our existence. Only the gods are immortal and can hope to live forever. Although (other) animals, too, are mortal, at least they don’t know that they are. They don’t have to worry about it. We, on the other hand, worry about death constantly. Even small childr...

Cary Wolfe begins his widely known book What Is Posthumanism? (2010) by announcing the results of a Google search. He reports that at the time of his writing (summer 2008) the search word ‘humanism’ yielded 3,840,000 hits, while the word ‘posthumanism’ gave him only 60,200. Wolfe concludes from these data that, apparently, ‘humanism is alive and we...

This paper examines the increasing integration of the radical human enhancement project into the cultural mainstream. The tacit identification of enhancement with therapy is no longer contested, but widely accepted. Transhumanism leads the way by pointing out the deficiencies of our nature and presenting radical human enhancement as the urgently ne...

This book looks at how sexuality is framed in enhancement scenarios and how descriptions of the resulting posthuman future are informed by mythological, historical and literary paradigms. It examines the glorious sex life we will allegedly enjoy due to greater control of our emotions, improved capacity for pleasure, and availability of sex robots.

The argument for moral bioenhancement is actually quite simple and straightforward: there are a lot of bad people out there who, in an age where weapons of mass destruction are no longer very difficult to come by, pose a danger to the survival of humanity (or at least the kind of human life that most of us have come to treasure). There are also qui...

Various companies already sell sex robots, or sexbots, which promise to be better lovers than any real human person could ever be. Not only will they increase our sexual pleasure, well-being and life span, sexbots will also never deny us the fulfilment of our desires, because they lack the autonomy that make human lovers so unreliable. Does it matt...

It has been predicted that in a decade or two our computers will have become so powerful that we will finally be able to do and be whatever we like. The posthumans that we will have become in the wake of this event, commonly referred to as the singularity, will not only be super-intelligent, but also capable of experiencing pleasures that go far be...

Informed by a close reading of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Michel Houellebecq’s The Possibility of an Island, this chapter explores the significance of the body for our existence as human beings. It engages with the way the embracement, acceptance or denial of this bodily existence reflects on, and is reflected in, our sexual relat...

The attraction that we feel for machines, that makes us choose them as sexual partners and makes us actually wish to be machines ourselves, or at least in some respects like a machine, has been explained by the German philosopher Günther Anders as resulting from “Promethean shame”. Promethean shame is what we feel when we realize that the machines...

Guided by two of Ursula K. Le Guins stories, “The Poacher” and “Nine Lives”, this chapter seeks to uncover the hidden conservatism of the transhumanist worldview. Although the desire for change seems to be dominant, the change that is sought in fact has the purpose of making sure that things stay as they are: that we do not age, not die, not lose c...

If the inner logic of the radical human enhancement project promoted by transhumanists demands that love be abolished because it makes us vulnerable, and sex be purified to become a pleasure of the mind, for which the body serves at best as an exchangeable tool, but is no longer identity-defining, then it is not so much Friedrich Nietzsche whose ph...

This chapter looks at three works of literature, namely the myth of Pygmalion, as related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short story The Sandman and Villiers de l’Isle Adam’s novel The Future Eve, which are all literary paradigms for the paradoxical idea that a doll or machine, which is unconscious and unfeeling and in this sense d...

Kissengers and surrogates are devices that seemingly allow bodily contact between people at a distance. What you do to or with that device at one place is immediately translated into the actions of another similar device at some other place. Yet if you have sex with a machine and your doing so directly causes another machine to have sex with anothe...

The purpose of this paper is mainly diagnostic. It tries to answer the question why we love machines. I argue that our biological bodies are often perceived as deficient in various ways. They limit our freedom, are easily destructible, and condemn us to die. For this reason, we look for an alternative way to exist and find it in the machine and its...

A reply by the author of "Reflections from a Troubled Stream: Giubilini and Minerva on 'After-Birth Abortion'" to "The Arguments Matter," by Don Marquis, "The Importance of Rationality," by G. Owen Schaeffer, and "Reasons and Freedom," by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva.

When Jonathan Swift published "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People of Being a Burden on their Country or Parents, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick" in 1729, many early readers were shocked and repulsed. Yet if a similar proposal were published today in a reputable academic journal, we could not be sure of its s...

The progressing cyborgization of the human body reaches its completion point when the entire body can be replaced by uploading individual minds to a less vulnerable and limited substrate, thus achieving "digital immortality" for the uploaded self. The paper questions the philosophical assumptions that are being made when mind-uploading is thought a...

This paper argues that transhumanism is a form of utopianism. Transhumanist writings are rich with utopian ideas and images that can be traced back to ancient and medieval myths, dreams and hopes. By analysing the former in the light of the latter, I intend to show that the persuasiveness of transhumanist arguments for radical human enhancement cru...

After showing that despite being inherently flawed the concept of dignity cannot be replaced without loss by ethical principles such as "respect for persons," it is argued that, if dignity be not understood as dignitas, but as bonitas, which emphasizes connectedness rather than excellence and to which the proper response is not respect, but awe, th...

If human enhancement consists in the making of better humans, then we obviously need to have some idea of what “better” humans would be like and in what respect they would be “better.” However, it can easily be shown that what counts as better is in fact highly context-dependent, so that there is no universal measure for human improvement. Cognitiv...

I argue that Mill introduced the distinction between quality and quantity of pleasures in order to fend off the then common charge that Utilitarianism is "a philosophy for swine" and to accommodate the (still) widespread intuition that the life of a human is better, in the sense of being intrinsically more valuable, than the life of an animal. I ar...

This paper argues that the goal the proponents of radical life exten-sion wish to attain is in fact unattainable, and that with regard to this goal, the whole project of conquering ageing and death is therefore likely to fail. What we seek to achieve is not the prolongation of life as such, but rather the pro-longation (or restoration) of a healthy...

Michael Sandel's opposition to the project of human enhancement is based on an argument that centres on the notion of giftedness. Sandel claims that by trying to ‘make better people’ we fall prey to, and encourage, an attitude of mastery and thus lose, or diminish, our appreciation of the giftedness of life. Sandel's position and the underlying arg...

It is often argued that advancing the development of life extension technologies and engaging in what is referred to as the 'crusade against ageing' is of the utmost importance because ageing is clearly bad for us and death an obvious evil. The purpose of this paper is to question this assumption and to demonstrate that, on the whole, ageing and de...