The Enlightenment Inspirations of the Transhumanist Gnosis

The aim of this text is to reconstruct, isolate, and discuss those motifs in transhumanism that originate in the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Importantly, in this article transhumanism is treated as a form of gnosis, that is, a form of religious thought that concerns the belief in the existence of exclusive knowledge which is a medium of self-salvation. Treating transhumanism as gnosis aims to highlight those ideas of the Enlightenment that transhumanism stems from and that are simultaneously more radically understood in transhumanism. The article opens with remarks on the difficulties of research on gnosis, in particular with its definition. Based on initial investigations, a general reconstruction of transhumanist philosophy is made and an argument is presented that transhumanism is some kind of gnosis. The final part of the article presents some vital motifs of the philosophy of the Enlightenment that are taken up and developed by transhumanism. They concern, among others: humanism, anthropocentrism, progressivism, naturalism, and rationalism.