New Bottles for Old Wine? On Playing God: Post- and Transhumanism from the Perspective of Kalām

Abstract

Post- and transhumanist discourses have evolved out of the humanist discourse and deal with the social, economic, and ethical challenges that arise in the wake of technological advances. These are questions such as the following: If the technical prerequisites are met, should we support human cloning, radical life extension, or the creation of artificial bodies into which we can upload our minds? Although there are numerous publications by Muslim legal scholars contributing to the posthumanist discourse within the framework of the bioethical discourse, there is still little to no scholarship tackling the post- and transhumanist discourse from the perspective of kalām, the systematic theology of Islam. So far, only a few articles that approach this task can be identified. This article gives an overview of the core theological positions of Muslim researchers in post- and transhumanist discourse and offers a systematic critical analysis of the presented contributions from the perspective of kalām. It argues that the Critical Posthumanist approach provides a fertile ground for Muslim scholars to contribute in. Hence it can also be read as a contribution to the emerging scholarly field of new kalām (kalām al-jadīd).