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Are Cyborgs Persons?

An Account of Futurist Ethics

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Argues for an evolutionary continuity between human persons and cyborg persons
  • Aims to reclaim the term ‘cyborg,’ arguing that the metaphorical usage fails to pick up on technologically driven changes in human embodiment
  • Proposes we create space for the possibility of cyborgean ethics

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
  2. Introduction

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 1-7
  3. Evolutionary Continuity between Human Person and Cyborg Person

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 9-28
  4. Semiotic Approach to Person and Cyborg Person

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 29-47
  5. Person in a Social and Technological World

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 49-66
  6. New Forms of Embodiment

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 67-81
  7. Cyborg and Material Communication

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 83-97
  8. Vitalist, Posthuman, and Environmental Ethics

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 99-116
  9. Possibility of Cyborgean Ethics and Politics

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 117-137
  10. Conclusions for Future

    • Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz
    Pages 139-146
  11. Back Matter

    Pages 147-197

About this book

This book presents argumentation for an evolutionary continuity between human persons and cyborg persons, based on the thought of Joseph Margolis. Relying on concepts of cultural realism and post-Darwinism, Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz redefines the notion of the person, rather than a human, and discusses the various issues of human body enhancement and online implants transforming modes of perception, cognition, and communication. She argues that new kinds of embodiment should not make acquiring the status of the person impossible, and different kinds of embodiments may be accepted socially and culturally. She proposes we consider ethical problems of agency and responsibility, critically approaching vitalist posthuman ethics, and rethinking the metaphysical standing of normativity, to create space for possible cyborgean ethics that may be executed in an Extended Republic of Humanity.

Reviews

"Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz’s book aims to steer a middle path between posthumanism and various forms of positivism or naturalism. To do this, Alcaraz provides a non-transcendental account of cyborg personhood based on a semiotic conception of the person as a creature woven from cultural practices. This path is richly exemplified with case studies drawn from contemporary art practice and cybernetic research, and valuably contributes to ongoing debates about the implications of technological change for the future of humanity." (David Roden,The Open University, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Academy of Art in Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

    Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz

About the author

Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz is Associate Professor in College of Visual Arts at the Academy of Art in Szczecin, Poland. Her research is in the fields of social philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophical aesthetics, and theory of culture and art.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Are Cyborgs Persons?

  • Book Subtitle: An Account of Futurist Ethics

  • Authors: Aleksandra Łukaszewicz Alcaraz

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60315-1

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-60314-4Published: 23 December 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-60317-5Published: 24 December 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-60315-1Published: 22 December 2020

  • Series ISSN: 2945-6592

  • Series E-ISSN: 2945-6606

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXV, 197

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Social Philosophy, Science and Technology Studies, Ethics, Aesthetics

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access