So you think you're human ?

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

190 pages, parution le 12/04/2005

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Résumé

One of the most imaginative historians writing today, combining an astonishing breadth with passionate and exciting story-telling
Advances the controversial proposition that we need to rethink our definition of humankind as a matter of urgency in the light of modern advances in science
Investigates advances in artificial intelligence and genetics, and asks what these mean for the future of human values, human rights, and the defence of human dignity
The first such book to address these big questions in such concise form

You think you're human. But what does that mean? How can humanity be defined? Felipe Fernandez-Armesto takes us on an enlightening journey through the history of humankind to reveal the challenges to our most fundamental belief - that we are, and have always been, human. Chimps and humans are objectively so alike that an anthropologist from Mars might classify them together; advances in artificial intelligence mean that humans no longer have exclusive access to reason, consciousness and imagination; developments in genetics threaten humanity with an uncertain future. The harder we cling to the concept of humanity, the more slippery it becomes. But if it breaks down altogether, what will this mean for human values, human rights, and the defence of human dignity? So You Think You're Human? confronts these problems from a historical perspective, showing how our current understanding of what it means to be human has been shaken by new challenges from science and philosophy. Fernandez-Armesto shows how our concept of humankind has changed over time, tracing its faltering expansion to its present limits and arguing that these limits are neither fixed or scientifically verifiable. Controversially, he proposes that we have further to go in developing our concept of humankind and that we need to rethink it as a matter of urgency.

Sommaire

Introduction
The Animal Frontier
Formally Human
Human Being or Being Human?
The Evolutionary Predicament
Post-Human Futures?

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Oxford University Press
Auteur(s)	Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
Parution	12/04/2005
Nb. de pages	190
Format	13 x 19,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	190g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780199691289
ISBN13	978-0-19-969128-9