Critique of Transhumanism's Concept of Humans from the Perspective of Islamic Thought

Yıl 2023, , 107 - 131, 31.07.2023

Seyithan Can

https://doi.org/10.12730/is.1274636

Cited By: 1

Öz

Transhumanism is defined as a human movement that believes in and attempts to implement ideas and practices aimed at developing and empowering the biological, psychological, and cognitive abilities of humans and helping them become superior to their current biological state through modern science and technological tools. Considering its promises and goals for humans and humanity, this science- and technology-based understanding is also recognized as a sociocultural and ideological movement. Given the effectiveness of areas such as virtual reality, genetic intervention, and artificial intelligence, it is clear that the promises of transhumanism are not so utopian. It is essential to subject the ontological approaches of transhumanism, which consider humans and the universe, to a theological interpretation based on current facts and arguments rather than philosophical and theoretical interpretations. Transhumanism clearly emphasizes that humans are incomplete beings and need to be developed. In this context, it emphasizes the understanding that humans can be empowered to their maximum potential through technology and science. It sets the goal of achieving the transhuman stage initially and then the posthuman stage, which represents the empowered state of humans at their maximum cognitive, emotional, and psychological levels. Although this movement, considered a continuation of humanism, develops humans physically, cognitively, and emotionally, it also treats humans as objects in achieving these goals. In our study, we specifically focus on transhumanism’s conception of humans and attempt to criticize this conception within the framework of the Islamic understanding of human beings. We first explain the concepts of transhuman and posthuman to understand transhumanists’ conception of humans. Transhumanists, who consider the transhuman an intermediate form and an incomplete being that needs to be developed in many aspects, claim that humans will reach maximum competence in the process of posthumanization and that this will be achieved through science and technology. This understanding, which sees humans as a product of evolution, contrasts with the Islamic belief that humans are created by God. Although evolution has historically been positioned as an ideology against religion, we attempt to demonstrate that it can be approached in a way that is compatible with God’s creation and that modern scientific data do not consider evolution impossible. When examined from the perspective of human nature, especially in general Islamic thought, the understanding of the human soul and body is incompatible with the transhumanist understanding of humans. This is because transhumanists reject the concept of the soul, which is considered an essence of the human being in Islamic thought. In contrast, transhumanists completely attribute the phenomenon that Islamic theology accepts as the soul to the biological structure of humans. Thus, they propose a different approach by emphasizing body-mind functionalism against soul-body duality. Because their claim is scientific, it has been proposed within the scope of modern science that the concept of the soul in Islamic thought can be understood as the energy that gives life to human beings or as human beings’ state of consciousness. Another topic addressed in this study is the transhumanist approach that views humans as inherently deficient. This perspective contradicts the Islamic conception of a perfect human. This is because in Islam, it is believed that human beings were created as aḥsan taqwīm (the most beautiful form) and can express perfection in every aspect. Regarding this point, we find that the fundamental problem is the expression of perfection in Islamic thought concerning the human body. It is clear that people can be born with disabilities and that they do not have physical perfection due to illness, old age, or other factors. Therefore, we suggest that the perfect aspect of humans should be positioned on the basis of their ability to think, use their mind in every way, and be conscious rather than referring to physical perfection since it is clear that humans can be born with disabilities.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Kalām, transhumanism, human, transhuman, posthuman

Kaynakça

• Abdul, Ojochogwu. “Advancing Neutral Monism in Big History and Transhumanist Philosophy”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Akçay, Elif. Biyoteknoloji Çağında İnsan Kalabilmek. İstanbul: Sarmal Kitabevi, 2022.
• Armstrong, Rachel. “Alternative Biologies”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. Edited by Max More - Natasha Vita-More. 100-111. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Aydeniz, Hüsnü. “Geleneksel Değerler Üzerinden Bir Transhümanizm Eleştirisi”. İlahiyat Tetkikleri Dergisi 53 (June 2020), 353-376. https://doi.org/10.29288/ilted.690929
• Aytepe, Mahsum. “Posthümanizmde ve Transhümanizmde Varlık”. In Transhümanizm & Posthümanizm: Disiplinlerarası Bir Çalışma. Edited by Mustafa Tekin – Muhammet Özdemir. 324-363. Ankara: Eskiyeni Yayınları, 2021.
• Bailey, Ronald. “For Enhancing People”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. Edited by Max More – Natasha Vita-More. 327-344. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Benko, Steven A. – Hruby, Amelia. “Critical Transhumanism as a Religious Ethic of Otherness”. In Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Edited by Calvin Mercer – Tracy J. Trothen. 255-271. California: Praeger, 2015.
• Blackford, Russell. “The Great Transition: Ideas and Anxieties”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. Edited by Max More – Natasha Vita-More. 421-429. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Bostrom, Nick. “A History of Transhumanist Thought”. Journal of Evolution and Technology 14/1 (April 2005), 1-25.
• Bostrom, Nick. “Transhumanist Values” Nick Bostrom. Accessed February 22, 2022. https://www.nickbostrom.com/tra/values.html
• Bostrom, Nick. “Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. Edited by Max More - Natasha Vita-More. 28-53. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Bostrom, Nick - Sandberg, Anders. “The Wisdom of Nature: An Evolutionary Heuristic for Human Enhancement”. In Human Enhancement. Edited by Julian Savulescu - Nick Bostrom . 375-416. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Bouzenita, Anke Iman. “‘The Most Dangerous Idea?’ Islamic Deliberations on Transhumanism”. Darulfunun İlahiyat 29/2 (2018), 201-228. https://doi.org/10.26650/di.2018.29.2.0031
• Broderick, Damien. “Trans and Post”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. Edited by Max More - Natasha Vita-More. 430-437. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Burdett, Michael S. “The Religion of Technology: Transhumanism and the Myth of Progress”. In Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Edited by Calvin Mercer - Tracy J. Trothen. 131-149. California: Praeger, 2015.
• Can, Seyithan. Transhümanizm ve İnancın Geleceği. İstanbul: Tezkire Yayınları, 2022.
• Carrigan, Kali. “Taking Up the Cosmic Office: Transhumanism and the Necessity of Longevity”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. 465-474. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Cordeiro, José Luis. “The Boundaries of the Human: From Humanism to Transhumanism”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. 63-75. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Çelebi, Emin. “Zihin-Beden İlişkisinin Ontolojik Düzlemi Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme”. In ECLSS Conferences on Language and Social Sciences. Edited by Selman Arslanbaş. 340-346. Almaty, Kazakhstan: Kazakh National Pedagogical University, 2020.
• Dağ, Ahmet. İnsansız Dünya: Transhümanizm. İstanbul: Ketebe Yayınları, 2021.
• Dağ, Ahmet. Transhümanizm: İnsanın ve Dünyanın Dönüşümü. Ankara: Elis Yayınları, 2nd edition, 2020.
• Dalkılıç, Mehmet. İslam Mezheplerinde Ruh. İstanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 2nd edition, 2012.
• Demir, Talip. “Transhümanizm ve Sekülerleşme: Bildiğimiz Dinin Sonu mu?”. In Din ve Transhümanizm. Edited by Talip Demir. 17-55. Ankara: Eskiyeni Yayınları, 2021.
• Doğan, İshak. “Transhümanizm: ‘Allah’ın Yarattığını Değiştirme’ veya İnsana Karşı Şeytan 2.0”. Marife Dini Araştırmalar Dergisi 21/1 (2021), 11-36. https://doi.org/10.33420/marife.895568
• Düzgün, Şaban Ali. Aydınlanmanın Keşif Araçları Varlık ve Bilgi. İstanbul: OTTO Yayınları, 2020.
• Fisher, Matthew Zaro. “More Human than the Human? Toward a ‘Transhumanist’ Christian Theological Anthropology”. In Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Edited by Calvin Mercer - Tracy J. Trothen. 23-39. California: Praeger, 2015.
• Gültekin, Abdurrazak. “Transhümanizm Bağlamında Yapay Zekâ Tanrıya Bir Başkaldırı mıdır?”. Iğdır Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 28 (October 2021), 1-16.
• Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus: Yarının Kısa Bir Tarihi. Translated by Poyzan Nur Taneli. İstanbul: Kolektif, 2016.
• Hughes, James. “The Compatibility of Religious and Transhumanist Views of Metaphysics, Suffering, Virtue and Transcendence in an Enhanced Future”. Global Spiral 8/2 (2007). http://www.metanexus.net/essay/compatibility-religious-and-transhumanist-views-metaphysics-suffering-virtue-and-transcendence
• Huxley, Julian. New Bottles for New Wine. London: Chatto and Windus Publishing, 1957.
• İyigüngör, Tuğçe. “Doğal Yaşam Formundan Artırılmış Bedene Geçiş: Transhümanizm”. ISophos: Uluslararası Bilişim, Teknoloji ve Felsefe Dergisi 3/5 (Fall 2020), 15-27.
• Kaku, Michio. Zihnin Geleceği. Translated by Emre Kumral. Ankara: ODTÜ Yayıncılık, 2016.
• Karataş, Yaylagül Ceran. “Dijital Çağda Hümanizm Tartışmaları Açısından İnsan Doğası Biyoteknoloji ve Biyopolitika”. Kutadgubilig Felsefe-Bilim Araştırmaları Dergisi 39 (2019), 61-88.
• Kılıç Ahmedi, Büşra. “İslam ve Transhümanizm Bağlamında Süper Müslüman Kavramının Analizi.” Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi 4/2 (2021), 11-36. https://doi.org/10.52637/kiid.1001949
• Kurzweil, Ray. İnsanlık 2.0: Tekilliğe Doğru Biyolojisini Aşan İnsan. Translated by Mine Şengel. İstanbul: Alfa Bilim, 2019.
• LaBerge, Carmen Fowler. “Christian? Transhumanist? A Christian Primer for Engaging Transhumanism”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. 771-777. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Labrecque, Cory Andrew. “Morphological Freedom and the Rebellion against Human Bodiliness: Notes from the Roman Catholic Tradition”. In Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Edited by Calvin Mercer - Tracy J. Trothen. 303-315. California: Praeger, 2015.
• Lee, Newton. “Brave New World of Transhumanism”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. 3-49. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Lee, Newton. “In Search of Super Longevity and the Meaning of Life”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. 313-355. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Levchuk, Kate. “How Transhumanism will Get Us through the Third Millennium”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. 75-89. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Lilley, Stephen J. Transhumanism and Society: The Social Debate Over Human Enhancement. New York: Springer, 2013.
• More, Max. “The Philosophy of Transhumanism”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. ed. Max More - Natasha Vita-More. West Sussex UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Ocak, Hasan. “İslâm Düşüncesinde Üstün İnsan Tasavvuru ve Transhümanizm & Posthümanizm”. In Transhümanizm & Posthümanizm: Disiplinlerarası Bir Çalışma. Edited by Mustafa Tekin - Muhammet Özdemir. 77-100. Ankara: Eskiyeni Yayınları, 2021.
• Ödemiş, Mehmet. “Yapay Zekâda Ruh/Bilinç ve Menşei Problemi”. In Yapay Zekâ Transhümanizm ve Din. Edited by Muhammed Kızılgeçit - Muhammet Yeşilyurt - Recep Ertugay – Murat Çinici. 55-87. Ankara: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yayınları, 2021.
• Özenç, Ardeniz. “Eski Bilim Yeni Bilime Karşı: Simyacılık ve Transhümanizm.” In Transhümanizm ve Karşılaştırmalı İzdüşümü. Edited by Timuçin Buğra Edman. 65-100. İstanbul: Kastaş Yayınevi, 2019.
• Peacocke, Arthur. “Kılık Değiştirmiş Dost: Darwinizm ve Teoloji”. Translated by Şaban Ali Düzgün. In 21. Yüzyıl İçin Tanrı: Büyük Patlamadan Evrime, Freud’dan Yapay Zekaya Tanrı ve Bilim. Edited by Russell Stannard. 59-63. Ankara: Fol Yayıncılık, 2022.
• Peters, Ted. “Boarding the Transhumanist Train: How Far should the Christian Ride?”. In The Transhumanism Handbook. Edited by Newton Lee. 795-805. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Prisco, Giulio. “Transcendent Engineering”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. Edited by Max More - Natasha Vita-More. 234-241. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Saka, Gülizar Hazal. “Bir Ütopya Olarak Teknolojik Ölümsüzlük Sorunsalı: Teknolojik Ölümsüzlük”. In V. Türkiye Lisansüstü Çalışmalar Kongresi - Bildiriler Kitabı IV (Edebiyat – Felsefe). 237-247. İstanbul: İlmi Etüdler Derneği - Isparta Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, 2016.
• Sandberg, Anders. “Transhumanism and the Meaning of Life”. In Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Edited by Calvin Mercer - Tracy J. Trothen. 3-23. California: Praeger, 2015.
• Sayan, Erdinç. “Analitik Zihin Felsefesinin Temel Problemlerine Bir Bakış”. Kaygı: Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe Dergisi 19 (October 2012), 37-54.
• Scheidt, Hannah. “The Fleshless Future: A Phenomenological Perspective on Mind Uploading”. In Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Edited by Calvin Mercer- Tracy J. Trothen. 315-329. California: Praeger, 2015.
• Stannard, Russell. “Evrimsel Biyoloji”. In 21. Yüzyıl İçin Tanrı: Büyük Patlamadan Evrime, Freud’dan Yapay Zekaya Tanrı ve Bilim. ed. Russell Stannard. Translated by Şaban Ali Düzgün. Ankara: Fol Yayıncılık, 2022.
• Ünal, Mahir Fatih. “Dijitalleşmenin Transhümanizme Etkisi”. Uluslararası Bilişim, Teknoloji ve Felsefe Dergisi 2/2 (2019), 24-38.
• Van Huyssteen, Wentzel. “Evrim; Tanrı’ya Dair Bilginin Anahtarı mı?”. Translated by Şaban Ali Düzgün. In 21. Yüzyıl İçin Tanrı: Büyük Patlamadan Evrime, Freud’dan Yapay Zekaya Tanrı ve Bilim. Edited by Russell Stannard. 63-67. Ankara: Fol Yayıncılık, 2022.
• Vita-More, Natasha. “History of Transhumanism”. The Transhumanism Handbook. ed. Newton Lee. 49-63. Switzerland: Springer, 2019.
• Vita-More, Natasha. “Life Expansion Media”. In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology and Philosophy of the Human Future. Edited by Max More - Natasha Vita-More. 73-83. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blacwell Publishing, 2013.
• Waters, Brent. “Flesh Made Data: The Posthuman Project in Light of the Incarnation”. In Religion and Transhumanism: The Unknown Future of Human Enhancement. Edited by Calvin Mercer - Tracy J. Trothen. 291-303. California: Praeger, 2015.
• Yar, Erkan. Ruh-Beden İlişkisi Açısından İnsanın Bütünlüğü Sorunu. Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2000.
• Yavuz, Yusuf Şevki. “Ruh”. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi. 35/187-192. Ankara: TDV Yayınları, 2018.
• Yeşilyurt, Muhammet. “Hıristiyan Transhümanizmi: Hıristiyanlığın Tekno-Eskatolojik Yeni Yorumu”. Dinbilimleri Akademik Araştırma Dergisi 21/2 (2021), 815-845. https://doi.org/10.33415/daad.938435
• Yeşilyurt, Muhammet. “Transhümanizmin Hristiyanlık Kökenleri”. In Yapay Zekâ Transhümanizm ve Din. Edited by Muhammed Kızılgeçit - Muhammet Yeşilyurt - Recep Ertugay - Murat Çinici. 187-211. Ankara: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yayınları, 2021.
• Yılmaz, Aykut Alper. İnsan Nedir? İstanbul: Albaraka Yayınları, 2022.