¿Mejora cognitiva? Consideraciones críticas al concepto del conocimiento en el transhumanismo

Abstract

The normativity involved in the concept of enhancement results in it being regarded as a self-evident imperative. However, this imperative should be sociologically analysed, as well as the different proposals of cognitive extension assessed to make clear its actual contribution. For this purpose, this paper looks into cognitive enhancement as it is presented in transhumanist thought and, particularly, in its biological approach, with the aim of (1) analysing the concept of knowledge that underlies this proposal, (2) determining how the technological mediations that affect the organism (quantitatively/qualitatively) modify cognitive activity: what is transformable in it and what eludes any kind of intervention, and (3) identifying what the meaning of enhancement or growth of cognitive capacities is in this approach, and which contrast it can be noticed with traditional thought.