Ronald F. White's Review for Choice Magazine: Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, ON TRANSHUMANISM (Pennsylvania University Press: 2020), Translated by Spencer Hawkins
This is Spencer Hawkins’ English translation of the original German book On Transhumanism by Stefan Lorenz Sorgner. Hawkins’ stated purpose is to introduce transhumanism to an American audience. This review will evaluate both the original book and the “Translators Introduction.” The term “transhumanism” was originally introduced as a disparaging concept employed by European critics of unfettered biotechnological innovation, which is dubbed “the most dangerous idea.” The underlying theme is that there are some biotechnologies that, over the long run, threaten “natural” human life, as we now know it. However, Hawkins points out that this naturalistic approach implies that human life can be rigidly defined and that human technology ought-not transcend those objective natural limits. The main biotechnologies defended by Sorgner are those that are intended to increase human health, reproductive capacity, longevity, cognitive ability, and/or athletic ability via genetic modification. Sorgn