Prof. Christo Stoev will present his research proposal on the topic:

A Different Approach into the Philosophical Anthropology: Rethinking the Human through its Antonyms

on on 25 February, 2021 (Thursday) at 16:30 h.

Moderated by Asiya Bulatova

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Abstract

The project builds on a simple thesis. In order to think through the human in general and to understand our own self-reflective cultural image as humans, we need to consider what we comprehend as opposite or even just different from the human. So, the main focus of the project will be analysis of the function of the antonyms that we have for the word human. These could be divided into two types: explicit and implicit antonyms. Explicit antonyms are formed with negative
prefixes like non-, un-, in-, anti-. The examples are: nonhuman, unhuman, inhumane, antihuman. Implicit antonyms are not formed with prefixes and they do not share the same root as the word human. Examples could be: beast, monster, machine, alien, barbarian, impure and so on. These implicit antonyms are interesting case because they are loaded with long cultural legacy.

A special focus of the analysis will be devoted to the cases of the nonhuman and the inhumane. As suggested by the two very different words in English our intuitions in this semantic field are divided into two basic types. On one hand, these are intuitions on that which the human is not (the nonhuman) and on the other hand intuitions on what the human should not be (the inhumane). These layers respectively reveal the descriptive and normative modes of our thinking on the human condition. The intuitions in question need to be philosophically conceptualized in order to understand their scope, limits, and claim to universality. Thus, light can be thrown on the very recent theoretical conceptions that seem to question our commitment to the humanist ideas. This should provide a more clear-cut interpretation on what it means to strive for a trans-humanist or a post-humanist world.