Kayla Senzig

PL-109 Philosophical Thinking Section 7

Would Ancient Philosophers Agree With Modern Transhumanism?

In this paper I will explore the issue of whether ancient philosophers such as Epicurus

and Plato would agree with the idea of transhumanism. To do this, I will use the readings of

Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus, Republic by Plato, and Phaedo by Plato. I will defend the

point that Epicurus would agree with transhumanist views while Plato would not. In section two,

I will first develop what transhumanism is. I will then explain Epicurus’s view on death and that

he would agree with the transhumanist belief. Lastly, I will explore Plato’s view on death and

that he would not agree with the transhumanist belief. Next, in section three, I will reason that

there are remaining questions such as why did transhumanism develop, what impact does it have

on today’s society, whether transhumanism is ethical, and whether other philosophers agree or

disagree with the transhumanists of today.

First, I want to define Transhumanism. Encyclopedia Britannica defines transhumanism

as “ movement devoted to promoting the research and development of robust human-

enhancement technologies.”1 To further this point, Massimo Pigliucci from Psychology Today

explains that “Transhumanists think of disease, aging and even death as both undesirable and

unnecessary, and think that technology will eventually overcome them all.”2

The movement began in 1957 by Julian Huxley. “Huxley held that, although humanity

had naturally evolved, it was now possible for social institutions to supplant evolution in refining

and improving the species.”3 This would be done through technology instead of society. Todays

1 Sean A. Hay, Transhumanism, https://www.britannica.com/topic/transhumanism

2 Massimo Pigliucci, The Problems with Transhumanism,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rationally-speaking/200907/the-problems-transhumanism
3 Sean A. Hay, Transhumanism, https://www.britannica.com/topic/transhumanism
transhumanism is different from the one of Huxley, as today’s transhumanism holds some of its

roots in extropianism. Extropianism as defined by Lexico means that “life will expand

indefinitely and in an orderly, progressive way throughout the entire universe by the means of

human intelligence and technology.”4 This philosophy is devoted to the transcendence of human

limits. Along with this belief in extropianism, transhumanists can be divided into two groups.

One group believes that “technological and genetic improvements have created a distinct species

of radically enhanced humans and the other in which greater-than-human machine intelligence

emerges.”5

The idea involving transhumanists that I want to focus on is their idea of immortality. To

do this, transhumanists believe that enhancing the body and mind is the best way to lengthen a

person's lifespan. This can be done in multiple ways. One way is to replace dead cells with new

ones, ultimately lengthening the person's physical lifespan. Another way is by doing something

called mind uploading. Mind Uploading’s website explains it as “a process by which the mind, a

collection of memories, personality, and attributes of a specific individual, is transferred from its

original biological brain to an artificial computational substrate.”6 In this method, only the

person’s consciousness would be preserved in an artificial object such as a computer. The mind

uploading method has its roots in the dream for humans to become immortal beings. This is the

method in which I believe Epicurus would agree with and Plato would not.

Epicurus believes that death is final, as both the body and mind are made of pure matter.

This means that he believes in a material soul. He states that “... death is the end of all

consciousness… ”7 Epicurus is stating that death should not be feared because it is the end of all

4 Extropy https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/extropy
5 Sean A. Hay, Transhumanism, https://www.britannica.com/topic/transhumanism
6 What is Mind Uploading, http://www.minduploading.org/
7 Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus pp. 3
consciousness and when consciousness ends so do all feelings. Later in the same section

Epicurus states: “... nothing to fear in death should find anything to fear in life… Death… is

therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present

we no longer exist.”8 Epicurus believes that our existence is based solely on life itself. If

something is not alive, then it no longer exists.

Based off of these quotes, I believe that Epicurus would agree with the transhumanist

viewpoint of extending life. Since death is the end of all consciousness, it would make sense to

try and preserve that consciousness for as long as possible, if not infinitely. Transhumanists are

doing this with mind uploading where the consciousness is stored even though the body is dead.

However, this point may disagree with his idea that death should not be feared as consciousness

would not be ending but simply reaching a new state. This raises a new crucial question, should

the next state be feared if the body is dying and the consciousness is preserved? Epicurus would

answer negatively to this. For him, there is nothing to fear in life as there is nothing to fear in

death. He states in his Letter to Menoeceus, “He who advises the young man to live well, the old

man to die well, is foolish, not only because life is desirable, but also because the art of living

well and the art of dying well are one.”9 Both life and death should not be feared, but both should

be greeted in their own way.

Plato, on the other hand, does believe in a soul and enhancing the body to immortality

would be hindering a person from reaching their true potential. In the Republic, Plato talks about

the concept that the world is split into two distinct universes, “the seen and the understood”.10

The seen is synonymous with the world of the senses, which is where we live, and the

understood is the world of the ideas. Plato believes that humans belong in the world of the ideas

8 Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus, p. 3

9 Epicurus, Letter To Menoeceus, p. 3
10 Plato, Republic, p. 216
but are stuck in the world of the senses. This idea in relation to death is explored in Plato’s

Phaedo. In Phaedo, he states: “ ‘...the sole purpose of those who correctly engage in philosophy

is dying and being dead. If this is true, it would surely be absurd for death to be their sole aim

throughout their life, but, when it actually arrives, for them to resent that which has long been

their aim and pursuit.’”11 This point mirrors that of Epicurus in saying that there is nothing to

fear in death for those who practice philosophy are already practicing the art of dying. He later

mentions the soul saying, “ ‘Can we believe that it is [death] anything other that the separation of

the soul from the body?’ ”12 The soul lives within the body until death; once death comes then

the soul can reach its true potential. Plato states this on page 52 of Phaedo:

“ ‘… as long as we have the body and our soul is fused with bodily evil, we’ll never

properly acquire what we desire, namely, as we would say, the truth. For the body detains us in

countless ways because of the sustenance it needs… It is thanks to the body that, for all these

reasons, we have no time for philosophy… For if it is impossible to have pure knowledge of

anything when we are in the company of the body, then either knowledge cannot be acquired

anywhere, or it can be acquired when we are dead.’ ”13

Plato believes that the main reason that humans cannot reach the world of the ideas is that

human bodies are like a prison, keeping them in the world of the senses when we are made for

the world of the ideas. It is this concept that I use to reason that Plato would not agree with the

transhumanist ideas of today.

The transhumanists of today believe that life should be preserved in anyway possible

where Plato would disagree with that. He would believe that the ultimate goal of life is the ms to

be a necessary step. interpolation of the truth, for which going through death see While one

11 Plato, Phaedo p. 49-50

12 Plato, Phaedo p. 50
13 Plato, Phaedo, p. 52-53
should not aim to achieve death on their own terms, death should not fear death once it is time.

This is what Plato wants his readers to understand in Phaedo when he discusses how the body is

a burden to the mind. The mind can only reach its true potential once the body, which is

currently limiting it, is dead.

Since transhumanists are extending life to immortality, one would not be able to reach

Plato’s world of the ideas. Plat would disagree with the concept of mind uploading, as he

believes that once the body dies the mind can reach the world of the ideas. Without a true death,

one cannot reach their true potential.

Most of the questions that remain unanswered are about transhumanism itself. It is

unclear as to why transhumanism developed. Another point that is unknown at the current time is

how the processes that transhumanists have proposed are implemented. Research is continuing

on mind uploading and the actual process itself is still being developed.One large question that

can be debated is if transhumanism is ethical or not. This question can only be answered by each

individual person. Who is to say if transhumanism is moral or ethical? This too can only be

answered by each person themselves. The final question that I have left unanswered is how other

philosophers would feel about transhumanism. This is a difficult question to answer as each

philosopher has their own morals and ethics which can only be told is through what is written.

The argument is simple with Epicurus due to the fact that he believes in a material soul.

To him, the body and mind are pure matter. As stated before, there is no life after death for

Epicurus, which allows him to agree with the transhumanist idea of not only enhancing a

human’s body but also enhancing the mind through methods such as mind uploading.

Plato does believe in a soul and in a better life after death. Using Plato’s writings, I

believe that I can accurately assume that he would disagree with the transhumanist ideals and the
preservation of human life. This is due to the fact that transhumanists wish to preserve life while

Plato believes that life must end for humans to reach their true potential.

Works Cited

Epicurus. “Letter To Menoeceus”

“Extropy: Definition of Extropy by Lexico.” Lexico Dictionaries | English. Lexico

Dictionaries. Accessed November 12, 2019.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/extropy.

Hays, Sean A. “Transhumanism.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.,

June 12, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/topic/transhumanism.

“Mind Uploading.” Mind Uploading Home Comments. Accessed November 12, 2019.
http://www.minduploading.org/.

Pigliucci, Massimo. “The Problems with Transhumanism.” Psychology Today. Sussex

Publishers, July 7, 2009. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rationally-
speaking/200907/the-problems-transhumanism.
Plato. “Phaedo”

Plato. “Republic”