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Humanity 2.0: What It Means to Be Human Past, Present and Future

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Humanity 2.0: What It Means to Be Human Past, Present and Future Humanity 2.0 What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future S. Fuller ISBN: 9780230316720 DOI: 10.1057/9780230316720 Palgrave Macmillan Please respect intellectual property rights This material is copyright and its use is restricted by our standard site license terms and conditions (see palgraveconnect.com/pc/info/terms_conditions.html). If you plan to copy, distribute or share in any format, including, for the avoidance of doubt, posting on websites, you need the express prior permission of Palgrave Macmillan. To request permission please contact [email protected]. Humanity 2.0 What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future Steve Fuller Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller Humanity 2.0 Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller Also by Steve Fuller SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND ITS DISCONTENTS PHILOSOPHY, RHETORIC AND THE END OF KNOWLEDGE The Coming of Science and Technology Studies (2nd Edition) (co-authored) SCIENCE (CONCEPTS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES) THE GOVERNANCE OF SCIENCE Ideology and the Future of the Open Society THOMAS KUHN A Philosophical History for Our Times KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOUNDATIONS KUHN VS POPPER The Struggle for the Soul of Science THE INTELLECTUAL The Positive Power of Negative Thinking THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STUDIES THE NEW SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION THE KNOWLEDGE BOOK Key Concepts in Philosophy, Science and Culture NEW FRONTIERS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STUDIES SCIENCE VS RELIGION? Intelligent Design and the Problem of Evolution DISSENT OVER DESCENT Intelligent Design’s Challenge to Darwinism THE SOCIOLOGY OF INTELLECTUAL LIFE The Career of the Mind In and Around the Academy SCIENCE (THE ART OF LIVING) Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller Humanity 2.0 What it Means to be Human Past, Present and Future Steve Fuller University of Warwick, UK Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller © Steve Fuller 2011 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries ISBN 978-0-230-23342-3 hardback ISBN 978-0-230-23343-0 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fuller, Steve, 1959– Humanity 2.0 : what it means to be human past, present and future / Steve Fuller. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-230-23343-0 (pbk.) 1. Social sciences–Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Social ethics. I. Title. H61.F848 2011 301.01–dc23 2011016894 - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller Contents List of Tables vii Introduction: What is Humanity 2.0? 1 Chapter 1 Humanity Poised Between Biology and Ideology 7 1 Science’s twin taboos: Race and religion 8 2 Sociology’s official anti-biologism and unofficial 16 soft racism 3 Alternative biological foundations of the modern 21 welfare state: Germany and Scandinavia 4 Britain’s curious erasure of both biology and 27 sociology: 1907 and all that 5 Methodological interlude: Towards a normative 41 historiography of science 6 Memes vs. genes: Humanity’s perennial need to 45 decouple ideology from biology 7 One step back to Weimar: The New Left’s 51 retrenchment of human embodiment 8 Two steps beyond Darwin: Disembodying 60 humanity in the search for extraterrestrial life Chapter 2 Defining the Human: The Always Already – or 69 Never to be – Object of the Social Sciences? 1 Does the success of the social sciences depend 69 on our humanity? 2 The precariousness of the human: Why Foucault 72 is (unfortunately) correct 3 Humanity as a bipolar disorder and the legacy 78 of John Duns Scotus 4 Renaturalisation as dehumanisation: The long 86 march back to Scotland 5 Recapitulating humanity’s bipolar disorder: 95 Towards a theory of mendicant modernities Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 6 The fugitive essence of ‘The Human’: Towards 97 Humanity 2.0? Chapter 3 A Policy Blueprint for Humanity 2.0: 110 The Converging Technologies Agenda 1 Converging technologies as public relations 111 for science v 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller vi Contents 2 The transatlantic stakes in the CT agenda 115 3 Defining ‘convergence’ in converging 124 technologies: Ontological levelling 4 CT’s fixation on nanotechnology: 132 The resurgence of the chemical worldview 5 Better living through biology: A hidden 139 theme in the history of social science 6 The transhumanist challenge: Can CT 150 ‘enhance evolution’? 7 Conclusions: The prospects for the CT agenda 160 Chapter 4 A Theology 2.0 for Humanity 2.0: Thinking 163 Outside the Neo-Darwinian Box 1 Theology at its worst: Philosophy of science 164 as neo-Darwinian apologetics 2 Theology at its best: Intelligent design as 173 heuristic for scientific discovery 3 Theology as a source of empowerment in 184 science education 4 Joseph Priestley’s Theology 2.0: The completion 196 of Newton’s Unitarian project 5 Teilhard de Chardin’s Theology 2.0: 201 The completion of divine creation itself Chapter 5 Conclusion: In Search of Humanity 2.0’s Moral 209 Horizon – Or, How to Suffer Smart in the 21st Century 1 Divine suffering and its human remediation, 210 aka distributive justice 2 The human simulation of divine legislation, 216 aka justified suffering 3 How might suffering be justified in the days 222 to come? 4 Can either wisdom or prophecy justify suffering 231 in a secular age? Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 5 The dawn of suffering smart: Recycling evil in 241 the name of good Bibliography 248 Index 263 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller List of Tables 2.1 Humanity as a Bipolar Disorder: Paris vs. Oxford 80 3.1 The Physical vs. the Chemical Worldviews 135 3.2 The Metaphysical History of Genetics 138 3.3 ‘Converging Technologies’ Before and After the 146 20th Century 3.4 Genetics Before and After the DNA Revolution 149 Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright vii 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller This page intentionally left blank Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Warwick - PalgraveConnect - 2013-03-03 - PalgraveConnect Warwick of - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230316720 - Humanity 2.0, Steve Fuller Introduction: What is Humanity 2.0? This book is about Humanity 2.0, the emerging object of both social science and social policy in the 21st century. A good way to understand this new entity is to consider a deep ambiguity in what ‘humane’ means in perennial calls for the ‘humane treatment of animals’. If it means that animals should be treated as humans are normally treated, then the charge is not very demanding. Aside from close friends and family members, we regard most people with an attitude of benign neglect, what Norman Geras (1998) rather precisely calls ‘the contract of mutual indifference’. Such an attitude works well in a society of self- motivated individuals with reasonable resources at their disposal to achieve their ends, as envisaged by, say, Adam Smith. However, in a society lacking such initial endowments, all sorts of misery and depriv- ation would end up being tolerated as long as the victims remained out of sight.
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