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Julian Huxley, Evolutionism and the History of Transhumanism

Dunér, Ingrid LU (2025) In Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors
Abstract
The evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley (1887–1975) attempted to promote a “religion for the future,” which he would come to refer to as Transhumanism. Transhumanism was an attempt to unite a more traditional humanistic view of the human as containing some form of core essence or potential with an evolutionary point of view of humans as a work in progress. Before humans, natural selection had been responsible for the transformation of life. Through its ordering principles and through chance, it had given rise to humankind, which had ushered in a new phase of evolution. Humanity stood on the threshold of yet another critical point in evolution: The consciously purposive phase of evolution. This open access book explores the history of... (More)
The evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley (1887–1975) attempted to promote a “religion for the future,” which he would come to refer to as Transhumanism. Transhumanism was an attempt to unite a more traditional humanistic view of the human as containing some form of core essence or potential with an evolutionary point of view of humans as a work in progress. Before humans, natural selection had been responsible for the transformation of life. Through its ordering principles and through chance, it had given rise to humankind, which had ushered in a new phase of evolution. Humanity stood on the threshold of yet another critical point in evolution: The consciously purposive phase of evolution. This open access book explores the history of transhumanism by analyzing how Julian Huxley’s transhumanism develops and why it does at this particular point in time, by placing it firmly within the context of his specific scientific and sociopolitical milieu, starting roughly in the interwar years and stretching over the Second World War to the 1970s. Continuing, the study then focuses on the new transhumanists of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and investigates continuity in mode of thinking, contributing to a more coherent understanding of transhumanism, its history and of modern projects of human enhancement. The book captures how scientific and technological development in relation to society and social order shapes images and expectations of the future and of what future is desirable. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
alternative title
Julian Huxley, evolutionism och transhumanismens historia
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
in
Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors
pages
366 pages
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
ISSN
2945-6606
2945-6592
ISBN
978-3-031-81719-9
978-3-031-81720-5
DOI
10.1007/978-3-031-81720-5
project
Controlling Destiny: Julian Huxley's Post-Darwinian Evolutionism and the History of Transhumanism
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4fb20a94-7091-45fa-bac0-d01893b6e51a
date added to LUP
2025-03-25 11:44:33
date last changed
2025-04-04 15:19:31
@book{4fb20a94-7091-45fa-bac0-d01893b6e51a,
  abstract     = {{The evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley (1887–1975) attempted to promote a “religion for the future,” which he would come to refer to as Transhumanism. Transhumanism was an attempt to unite a more traditional humanistic view of the human as containing some form of core essence or potential with an evolutionary point of view of humans as a work in progress. Before humans, natural selection had been responsible for the transformation of life. Through its ordering principles and through chance, it had given rise to humankind, which had ushered in a new phase of evolution. Humanity stood on the threshold of yet another critical point in evolution: The consciously purposive phase of evolution. This open access book explores the history of transhumanism by analyzing how Julian Huxley’s transhumanism develops and why it does at this particular point in time, by placing it firmly within the context of his specific scientific and sociopolitical milieu, starting roughly in the interwar years and stretching over the Second World War to the 1970s. Continuing, the study then focuses on the new transhumanists of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and investigates continuity in mode of thinking, contributing to a more coherent understanding of transhumanism, its history and of modern projects of human enhancement. The book captures how scientific and technological development in relation to society and social order shapes images and expectations of the future and of what future is desirable.}},
  author       = {{Dunér, Ingrid}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-031-81719-9}},
  issn         = {{2945-6606}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  series       = {{Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors}},
  title        = {{Julian Huxley, Evolutionism and the History of Transhumanism}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-81720-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-031-81720-5}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}