From a Post-genomic to a Post-human Condition

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the concepts and applications of post-genomics with the ideo-logy of post-humanism, currently under development both in scientific, philosophical, and social contexts. The author follows a line of analysis defined in the historical perspective of biological-societal relations, to show how social effects caused by biological theories have produced cultural, political, and legal situa-tions, ranging from alleged scientific justifications of preconceptions and social policies, to the unfounded promise of providing total solutions to human problems. The paper expounds on three crucial moments in the history of biology, connected with the respective conceptualization of life, built in each period, and shows that today there is no clearly defined scientific concept, but rather a great technical development, whose technical applications cover the entirety of social life, which perfectly enables biological and social realization of post-humanism, to the extent that the developments target the biological transformation of the human being which, for some, is the origin of a new being referred to as post-human.