Critical Thinkers on the Threshold of Posthumanity

In this book I contemplate the possibility of posthuman philosophy within the religious and theological schools of thought. In doing this, I do not focus on the traditional philosophical humanism which characterizes the scholastic and neo-scholastic approach within Western philosophy. Rather, I focus on a dehellenized philosophical way of thinking that, I hold, characterizes the thresholds of a new philosophical consciousness. That is to say, the Hellenistic philosophical principles that support Western humanism, are not used to support my understanding of a philosophy appropriate to posthumanity. My views have changed. Having begun as an existential philosopher, with a view to evolving into a posthuman philosopher, I evaluate aspects of the philosophical consciousness of William Gladstone (1809-1898) politician and George Tyrrell (1861-1909) theologian in terms of both humanism and posthumanism from a phenomenological philosophical perspective. I realize that the phenomenological notion of humanity (in contrast to the classical idea of humanism) may not be adequately grasped by all philosophers. It seems to me that although many professionals appear to be somewhat conversant with general philosophical and theological notions that are pertinent to humanity, they nonetheless are struggling to clarify their understanding of an emerging posthuman philosophy. Yet, despite the growing popularity of research into posthumanism in academia, most academics, have but a general and somewhat sketchy knowledge of the significance of posthuman philosophy. Not all research into posthumanity is undertaken as philosophy. But rather most research is undertaken as a dramatic exercise of human imagination or of fantastic reasoning. Thus, it is understandable that some researchers lack an adequate philosophical vocabulary to express their thoughts for a philosophy on the threshold of posthumanity