CHIMERISM AND BIOETHICS IN SPECIES TECHNICA, BY GILBERT HOTTOIS

Abstract

In Species Technica, Gilbert Hottois addresses the theme of chimerism and the mutations of humanity under the impetus of technosciences. If many of the experiments described appear as demonic to the guarantors of a traditional and ecological moral order, inspired by anarchism and Catholicism, researchers in biocybernetics are ready to carry out all the experiments necessary to achieve their ends. Hottois shows the limits of two extremist, even fundamentalist currents of thought, ready for all madness to make their faith triumph. The Belgian philosopher offers a relevant bioethical reflection, although
sometimes a little caricatural. Science fiction has the characteristic of accentuating the tendencies of reality, and of deforming it to allow a reflection at the limits of the thinkable. If Hottois claimed to be a secular thinker, his bioethical thought seems to oppose traditionalism and posthumanism, warning about the possible drifts of the debate on the future of humanity under the influence of technosciences.