Transhumanism: A turn of the screw on Heidegger’s question concerning technology

The so-called transhumanist project is anthropotechnic and aims at the enhancement of human physical and cognitive capabilities through the employment of new technologies. Nevertheless, when viewed through the lens of Heidegger’s philosophy, the project appears to confirm his own view on modern technology. According to Heidegger, the essence of modern technology is to serve as an ontological framework in which beings are unconcealed as a totality of resources or stock items. Thus, the first part of this paper examines Heidegger’s approach to technology in order to cast light upon the deep danger of dehumanization entailed by transhumanism. In the second section, however, the ability of Heidegger’s thought to cope with the transhumanist danger is put into question, since it fails to conceive of the essential living character of human being.