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• 25 jui 2019

  Lille

  Call for papers - Thought

  Enhancing human in Europe: dream and nightmare of the interwar period

  Number of historians and philosophers consider in general that transhumanism and its aim at enhancing the human through applied science and technology have their roots in the inter-war period: Julian Huxley, Jean Coutrot, John B.S. Haldane or John D. Bernal are indeed massively considered as the precursors of such ideas. But are they the sole references to mention when considering the inter-war origins of transhumanism, or are they just the tip of the iceberg of a broader current of thought emerging at that time? Such question immediately raises another one, which requires clarification : can current transhumanism(s) really be linked to the ideas emerging in the inter-war period ? The aim of the workshop will be first to check whether and how the idea of an enhanced human through technology intervention may have circulated in Europe during that time. Secondly, space will be given to look for pertinent criteria for the identification of a « transhumanism » of the inter-war period, by evaluating the nature of the indices which may be studied: mobilizing ideas, currents of thoughts, schools of thoughts, sociotechnical imaginaries, etc. Within these perspectives, the workshop will make possible comparisons between the different European contexts (England, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, etc.), and the several papers will help us to better understand the circulation of ideas, networks and human exchanges which contributed to forge the cradle of transhumanist ideas. Communications will be in French or in English.

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