The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality
| File:Image The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality.jpg | |
| Author | Vojin Rakić |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Published | 2021 |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Pages | |
| ISBN | 978-3-030-72472-6 Search this book on  . |
The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality is a book of Vojin Rakić, a Serbian and Dutch philosopher and political scientist.[1]. It has been published by Springer in 2021 and has since then been widely cited and analyzed[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. This book confronts one of the most deeply rooted assumptions in moral philosophy: that morality must remain bound to the unenhanced human condition. It asks, instead, what becomes of good and evil, happiness, and moral responsibility once human beings acquire the capacity to transform themselves. Engaging directly with the legacy of Immanuel Kant, the book offers a reconstruction of philosophical approaches to morality and happiness, before turning against their implicit limits. Kant's vision of an Ethical Commonwealth - a cosmopolitan order grounded in universal moral law - is taken not as a completed ideal, but as an unfinished project whose realization may depend on means Kant himself could not have foreseen. At the center of the argument lies a controversial claim: if safe and effective, voluntary moral bio-enhancement (VMBE) is not merely permissible but morally required. The book rejects the dominant justification for enhancement - namely, the prevention of catastrophic harm - and replaces it with a different foundation altogether: human happiness. Morality and happiness, it argues, are not in tension but in a dynamic, mutually reinforcing relationship. We do not become moral by sacrificing happiness; rather, we become happier by becoming better - and better by becoming happier. From this perspective emerges the idea of ultimate morality (UM): a form of universal morality no longer constrained by the cognitive and emotional limitations of unenhanced human beings. Such a morality, the author argues, would not abolish freedom but deepen it, arguably transforming Kant's ideal from a regulative horizon into a realizable condition of post-human existence. The book thus pretends to challenge both traditional ethics and contemporary bioethics. It asks whether humanity's moral future lies not in restraint, but in transformation - and whether refusing that transformation may itself be a moral failure.
In his How to Enhance Morality [9] Vojin Rakic has laid the groundwork for his conceptions developed in The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality.
In 2022, Rakić `s books How to Enhance Morality and The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality (both published by Springer) were discussed at a conference dedicated to Rakić's ethical theory - held at the University of Tübingen. The conference brought together several dozen scientists[10][8]. The reputed bioethicis form Oxford Uiversity, John Harris, wrote the following about The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality: “Vojin Rakic is a bioethicist who is always worth reading and continues to produce works on important topics. Here he writes about one of the most challenging issues of our times, namely the possibility of using science and technology to permanently change humanity itself. This change Vojin believes will take place at the level of morality. Vojin Rakic argues that the next major step in our evolution will be the development of a (new?) species he believes will be morally superior to existing humans. It will, Vojin argues, be guided by “Ultimate Morality”, a concept that will continue to have certain foundations in traditional ethics.”[11]. Another famous bioethicist, Nicholas Agar, wrote this about the same book: “Rakic’s book is jammed with refreshing and daring insights about human enhancement. Anyone who’s interested in philosophical debate about the future of humanity should read it.” [12]
References
- ↑ The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality. SpringerBriefs in Ethics. 2021. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-72473-3. ISBN 978-3-030-72472-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Szocik, Konrad (2023). The Bioethics of Space Exploration. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197628478.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-762847-8. Search this book on
- ↑ Goncalves, Marcus; Hu, Yiwei; Aliagas, Irene; Cerdá, Luis Manuel (2024). "Neuromarketing algorithms' consumer privacy and ethical considerations: Challenges and opportunities". Cogent Business & Management. 11. doi:10.1080/23311975.2024.2333063. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ Bingham, Kevin P.; Czapnik, Slawomir (2024). "The Message in a New Phase of Television: An Exploration of the Dichotomy of Good and Evil". International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure. 7 (3): 279–295. doi:10.1007/s41978-024-00161-5.
- ↑ Ćirković, Milan M.; Katić, Ana (25 February 2023). "Extraterrestrial intelligence and moral standing". International Journal of Astrobiology. 22 (1): 57–66. doi:10.1017/S1473550422000337 – via Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Balistreri, Maurizio; Umbrello, Steven (2023). "Modifying the Environment or Human Nature? What is the Right Choice for Space Travel and Mars Colonisation?". Nanoethics. 17. doi:10.1007/s11569-023-00440-7. Unknown parameter
|article-number=ignored (help) - ↑ Clinical Ethics At the Crossroads of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies. Academic Press. 1 January 2023. pp. 347–379 – via www.sciencedirect.com. Search this book on
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Etička teorija Vojina Rakića". 21 November 2024.
- ↑ Rakić, Vojin. 2021. How to Enhance Morality. Dordrecht, NL: Springer
- ↑ "Održana međunarodna konferencija o etičkoj teoriji Vojina Rakića". 28 January 2022.
- ↑ http://iriss.idn.org.rs/1978/1/06%20The%20Ultimate%20Enhancement%20of%20Morality.pdf
- ↑ http://iriss.idn.org.rs/1978/1/06%20The%20Ultimate%20Enhancement%20of%20Morality.pdf
This article "The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:The Ultimate Enhancement of Morality. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
