Thomas Fuchs' book, implicitly arguing for the necessity of vulnerability, persuades the reader to re-shape the definition of major categories -such as subjectivity, health, and wellbeing and to find, in liminality itself, the richness of our existence.

Valeria Bizzari, Husserl Archives, KU Leuven, Belgium, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology

In Defense of the Human Being is a book which serves as a compass, both for philosophers, clinicians and neuroscientists. It reminds us that humans cannot be dualistically divided into two different substances, rather that they are made of flesh and blood: they experience, the feel, they think - as embodied living subjects, embedded into the world and in a reciprocal relationship with it. "Life can be known only by life", wrote Hans Jonas (Jonas, 2001); through this work, Thomas Fuchs revitalizes this lesson and drives philosophy in confrontation with the new challenges of our time.

Francesca Brencio, Department of Philosophy, University of Seville, Seville, Spain, Philosophical Psychology

This provocative book is to be welcomed for the lucidity, breadth and intelligence of its arguments. It will be a valuable resource for students, academics and therapists, and for anyone who has ever suspected that mainstream psychology in this country is in danger of congealing into dogma.

Paul Moloney, The Psychologist Website

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In Defense of the Human Being is a book which serves as a compass, both for philosophers, clinicians and neuroscientists.

Francesca Brencio, Department of Philosophy, University of Seville, Seville, Spain, Philosophical Psychology

With the progress of artificial intelligence, the digitalization of the lifeworld, and the reduction of the mind to neuronal processes, the human being increasingly appears to be just a product of data and algorithms. That is, we conceive ourselves “in the image of our machines”, and conversely, we elevate our machines and our brains to new subjects. At the same time, demands for an enhancement of human nature culminate in transhumanist visions of taking human evolution to a new stage. Against this self-reification of the human being, this book defends a humanism of embodiment: our corporeality, vitality, embodied freedom are the foundations of a self-determined existence, which uses these new technologies only as a means, instead of letting them rule us. In Defence of the Human Being offers an array of interventions directed against a reductionist naturalism or transhumanism in various areas of science and society. As alternative it offers an embodied and enactive account of the human person: we are neither pure minds nor brains, but primarily embodied, living beings in relation with others. Fuchs applied this concept to issues such as artificial intelligence, transhumanism and enhancement, virtual reality, neuroscience, embodied freedom, psychiatry, and finally to the accelerating dynamics of current society which lead to an increasing disembodiment of our everyday conduct of life. Cutting across neuroscience, philosophy, and psychiatry, this important new book applies cutting-edge concepts of embodiment and enactivism to the current scientific, technological and cultural tendencies that will crucially influence our society's development in the 21st century.
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With the progress of artificial intelligence, the digitalization of the lifeworld, and the reduction of the mind to neuronal processes, the human being appears more and more as a product of data and algorithms. The book applies cutting-edge concepts of embodiment and enactivism to current scientific, technological and cultural developments
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Introduction Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism, Virtuality 1: Human and Artificial Intelligence: A Clarification 2: Beyond the Human? A Critique of Transhumanism 3: The Virtual Other: Empathy in the Age of Virtuality Brain, Person, and Reality 4: Person and Brain: Against Cerebrocentrism 5: Embodied Freedom: a Libertarian Conception 6: Brain World or Life World? Critique of Neuroconstructivism 7: Perception and Reality: Sketch of an Interactive Realism Psychiatry and Society 8: Psychiatry Between Psyche and Brain 9: Embodiment and Personal Identity in Dementia 10: The Cyclical Time of the Body and the Linear Time of Modernity References Name Index Subject Index
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`It is a remarkable fact that humanism fell out of fashion in the last half of the 20th century, undermined not only by the rise of scientistic reductionism, but also by critical disruptions in some of the most influential European philosophical schools. in his Defence of the Human Being, Thomas Fuchs finds correcting resources in the advances made by embodied cognition. His embodied-enactive accounts rightly emphasize the relational, world- and other-oriented dynamics that constitute the human being, characterized by recognition and dignity. Faced with recent advances in AI, big data, virtualization and neuroscience, this book offers a critical re-anchoring for a truly embodied philosophical anthropology. ' Shaun Gallagher, Lillian and Morrie Moss Professor of Excellence in Philosophy, University of Memphis `In this original, important, and wide-ranging book, Thomas Fuchs provides a compelling critique of technologically driven, reductionist conceptions of human life. He reminds us of something fundamental to our nature, something that cannot be ignored or explained away: we are embodied, living beings, embedded in a larger social world and capable of free choice. ' Mattthew Ratcliffe, Professor of Philosophy, University of York
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Applies cutting-edge concepts of embodiment and enactivism to the current scientific, technological and cultural tendencies that will crucially influence our society's development in the 21st century Examines central technological developments, such as AI and transhumanist views of the human being Has an interdisciplinary approach, combining phenomenology, psychology, psychiatry, cultural and life sciences, which conveys a broad picture of what it means to be human
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Thomas Fuchs, MD, PhD, is Karl Jaspers Professor of Philosophy and Psychiatry at Heidelberg University, Germany. His main areas of expertise include phenomenological philosophy and psychopathology as well as embodied and enactive cognitive science, with a particular emphasis on non-representational, interactive concepts of social cognition. He was Coordinator of several large national and international grants, among them the European Research Training Network
Les mer
Applies cutting-edge concepts of embodiment and enactivism to the current scientific, technological and cultural tendencies that will crucially influence our society's development in the 21st century Examines central technological developments, such as AI and transhumanist views of the human being Has an interdisciplinary approach, combining phenomenology, psychology, psychiatry, cultural and life sciences, which conveys a broad picture of what it means to be human
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780192898197
Publisert
2021
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
598 gr
Høyde
240 mm
Bredde
162 mm
Dybde
22 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
272

Forfatter

Biographical note

Thomas Fuchs, MD, PhD, is Karl Jaspers Professor of Philosophy and Psychiatry at Heidelberg University, Germany. His main areas of expertise include phenomenological philosophy and psychopathology as well as embodied and enactive cognitive science, with a particular emphasis on non-representational, interactive concepts of social cognition. He was Coordinator of several large national and international grants, among them the European Research Training Network “Towards an Embodied Science of Intersubjectivity” (TESIS). He has authored over 350 journal articles, book chapters and several books. He is Editor-in-Chief of “Psychopathology” and editorial board member of 4 scientific journals.