Better than well-being: the scope of transhumanism in the context of educational philosophy

Philosophers continue to raise the question of the nature of the good life. Educational philosophers in particular seek to define the nature of well-being in order to direct educational endeavors appropriately, and much has been said about the different conceptions of well-being that educators look towards. In this paper we consider how transhumanists or posthumanists have attempted to think beyond well-being. Our purpose here is not to suggest that we have arrived at a meaning of being or well-being and that it is now time move on towards a transhuman future. On the contrary, the transhuman vision beyond the present tells us more, we argue, about the limitations of our understanding of the depth of well-being. What might seem like rather fantastical and fictional presentations of the goal of education are not as distant as they seem; the practical implications of modern technology increasingly require us to face the projection of humanity in our own image. It is argued that a theological conception of human nature will provide some insight into transcendence that transhumanism does not consider.