Mr Ojochogwu S. Abdul: Transhumanism, Singularity and Afrofuturism

A 2-day Colloquium on Transhumanism in Africa: Questioning the Concept of Radical Enhancement of Humans’ Moral Capacities, 10 & 11 April, 2024

Radical moral enhancement aims to radically augment individuals’ moral capacities through scientific and technological interventions that would help them to surpass their moral limitations, making them always act morally in posthuman fashion (Bostrom 2008, Persson & Savulescu 2012, DeGrazia 2014, Crutchfield 2018, Sorgner 2022, AE Chimakonam 2021, 2023). This colloquium aims to consider how African philosophy can provide novel ways of understanding the relation of transhumanism and moral enhancement. The basic question is whether there are African axiological values that can be invoked to refute or support radical moral enhancement from African philosophical perspectives. In this regard, African philosophers have made some effort to contribute to the discourse of moral enhancement from African philosophical perspectives. For instance, Ademola Fayemi and Cornelius Ewuoso defend radical moral enhancement by envisioning a posthuman era in Africa, while Amara Esther Chimakonam argues that radical moral enhancement would truncate the process of acquiring normative personhood. Such and other African philosophical contributions to the discourse of moral enhancement open new vistas for thought that this colloquium calls for exploration.