In Defense of the Human Being: Foundational Questions of an Embodied Anthropology

273 Pages·2021·12.377 MB·English

by  Thomas Fuchs

In Defense of the
Human Being

In Defense of the
Human Being
Foundational Questions
of an Embodied
Anthropology
Thomas Fuchs
1
1
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DOI: 10.1093/ oso/ 9780192898197.001.0001
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With the progress of artificial intelligence, the digitalization of the life-w orld,
and the reduction of the mind to neuronal processes, the human being appears
more and more as a product of data and algorithms. We understand ourselves
in the image of our machines, while conversely, we elevate our machines and
our brains to new subjects. Against this self-r eification of the human being, the
philosopher and psychiatrist Thomas Fuchs defends a humanism of embodi-
ment: our corporeality, vitality, and embodied freedom are the foundations of
a self- determined existence that uses the new technologies as means instead of
submitting to them.
Thomas Fuchs, psychiatrist and philosopher, is Karl Jaspers Professor for
Philosophical Foundations of Psychiatry at Heidelberg University and chairs
the research section “Phenomenological Psychopathology and Psychotherapy”
at the Psychiatric University Hospital Heidelberg.

Contents
Abbreviations xi
Introduction: A Humanism of Embodiment 1
Acknowledgments 8
References 8
A Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism, Virtuality
1 Human and Artificial Intelligence: A Clarification 13
Introduction: The World of Data 13
The Digitization of the World 16
Subjectivity and Its Simulation 20
Persons are Not Programs 24
Programs are Not Persons 28
Robots, Androids, and Artificial Life (AL) 35
Conclusion: Simulation and Original 41
References 45
2 Beyond the Human? A Critique of Transhumanism 49
Introduction: Between Naturalism and Culturalism 49
The Idea of Perfectibility 54
Can Human Nature be Improved? 59
Cognitive Skills 59
Happiness and Morality 61
Aging and Death 64
The Contradictions of Posthumanism 67
Mind Uploading or Transfer of Consciousness 69
Critique of Functionalism 71
Critique of Neuro- Reductionism 74
Transhumanism as Neo- Gnosticism 75
Conclusion 76
References 79
3 The Virtual Other: Empathy in the Age of Virtuality 83
Introduction 83
Empathy and Virtual Reality 86
viii ConTenTs
Primary, Implicit, or Intercorporeal Empathy 86
Extended, Explicit or Imaginative Empathy 87
Fictional Empathy 88
Interim Summary 92
Virtualization in the Present 94
Phantomization 94
Disembodied Communication 96
Summary and Conclusion 98
References 101
B Brain, Person, and Reality
4 Person and Brain: Against Cerebrocentrism 107
Introduction 107
Critique of the Cerebral Subject 109
Subjectivity and Intentionality 109
Embodiment 110
Interpersonality 112
Critique of Localizationism 113
Critique of Neuroimaging 114
Holism of Consciousness 115
Personhood as Embodied Subjectivity 116
Brain, Body, and Environment 116
Brain Transplantation 119
Conclusion 120
References 121
5 Embodied Freedom: A Libertarian Position 124
Introduction 124
Can Brains make Decisions? 126
Freedom as a Personal Ability 128
Embodied Freedom 131
Counter Positions 133
External Objections 133
The Compatibilist Counter Position 136
Immanent Objections 138
Conclusion 141
References 142
ConTenTs ix
6 Brain World or Life World? Critique of
Neuroconstructivism 144
Introduction 144
Bodily Being- in- the- World: The Coextension of Lived Body
and Physical Body 147
The Locus of Pain 151
Conclusion: Life-W orld and Neuroscience 153
References 155
7 Perception and Reality: Sketch of an Interactive Realism 157
Introduction 157
Perception as Interaction 159
The Objectifying Power of Perception 162
The Implicit Intersubjectivity of Perception 164
Genesis of Intersubjective Perception 167
Subjectivation of Perception in Schizophrenia 169
Summary 171
References 174
C Psychiatry and Society
8 Psychiatry between Psyche and Brain 181
Introduction 181
Reductionist Assumptions and their Verification 184
Psychiatry as Relational Medicine: An Integrative Concept 188
Conclusion 190
References 192
9 Embodiment and Personal Identity in Dementia 196
Introduction 196
Personal Identity 197
Body Memory 200
Dementia and Personal Identity 203
Dementia as a Loss of Reflexivity and Meta- Perspective 203
Body Memory in Dementia 205
Relational versus Embodied View of the Person in Dementia 209
Conclusion 212
References 213