What is the human being, and what is our place in the Cosmos? Max Scheler's The Human Place in the Cosmos as a response to transhumanism, the technological singularity, and post-biological evolution.

n a 1926 essay entitled, ‘Mensch und Geschichte’ (‘Man and History’), German philosopher Max Scheler (1874-1928) argued that the preeminent and most pressing philosophical task of his era was the issue of Philosophical Anthropology, i.e., the problem of the human being. This doctoral thesis aims to show that this issue is a concern that is as relevant now as it was when Scheler was writing. The problematic character of human experience is thus explored in light of the recent and ongoing developments of late-modern technology. Developments that promise a solution to a multitude of human problems – the age-old issue of our biological finitude being paramount amongst them. Such sentiments find their purest contemporary expression within the philosophy of transhumanism and the associated narratives of human enhancement, post-biological evolution, and the concept of the Technological Singularity. The question of human nature is a perennial issue; human reflection on the human condition is a defining feature of our lived experience. Themes of post-humanity and post- biology have long been explored within the realm of science fiction, now they have become the practical concern of engineers and technologists, Hence, science fiction now deigns to intrude into the realm of science fact. In our time, the idea of post-biological evolution, the design paradigm of NBIC-convergence, and transhumanism – as a philosophy and a cultural movement – all confront and confound traditional notions of human nature. But unlike previous challenges to accepted and established images of the human being, this re- assessment of human nature has a practical aspect – for technology now seems poised to finally achieve the age-old aspiration of human control over human nature. Since there is no single and uncontested definition of the human being, let alone consensus on how to define the post-human, first and foremost we have a question of Philosophical Anthropology: What is the human being and what is our place in the cosmos? As such, Scheler’s Philosophical Anthropology serves as a response to the philosophical challenge of transhumanism and post-biological evolution

Values of the Human Person. Contemporary challenges

Contemporary knowledge is centered on the research on human dimensions. Philosophy should particularly appeal to values in the process of understanding the human nature. The valuable “becoming” of each human person requires growing ever more aware of his/her personal identity and of his/her role in this lifetime. In ethics, especially, values suppose moral choices or criteria on which a moral behavior is based. Max Scheler based his ethical theory on the distinction between goods and values. The “goods” are things to which we attach some physical worth, and the “values” are the object of emotional perception, of the “sentiment of value” and of the place they have in the hierarchy of values. Even if the human being attributes a certain worth to individual things, he/she is always searching for a universal value, which should exceed the contingency of that thing. This universal validity is a kind of ideal measure of the value of all empiric realities and it is articulated by a normative rationality. It forms a system of universal norms that contribute to the foundation of critical axiological judgments. What values are the most enhanced by our post-modern society? Are they the same as during the modern period? What would distinguish them from the values of other cultural periods of humankind? How do we react to the new challenges generated by technological progress and the media? How do the classical disciplines such as philosophy, religion, anthropology, and art respond to these new challenges? And how could they help us to better adapt the writings of certain significant personalities to the modern and contemporary culture? These are only a few questions this volume will address. It contains a large number of articles by authors from various countries and continents: philosophers, and theologians, as well as researchers in medicine, anthropology, and new scientific technologies. As the variety of topics is impressive, we tried to organize them into three thematic parts: “Part I: Fundamental Human Values. Contemporary Challenging Globalization,” “Part II: New Axiological Challenges in Technologies and Scientific Thinking,” and “Part III: Cultural and Spiritual Personalities: Possible Answers to Our Contemporary Changes.” In the following pages, we shall make a short presentation of each article in order to facilitate a quick familiarization with the entire volume

Hakol Kol Yaakov

Hakol Kol Yaakov: The Joel Roth Jubilee Volume contains twenty articles dedicated to Rabbi Joel Roth, written by colleagues and students. Some are academic articles in the general area of Talmud and Rabbinics, while others are rabbinic responsa that treat an issue of contemporary Jewish law. In his career, Joel Roth has been known as a scholar and teacher of Talmud par excellence, and, without question, as the preeminent decisor of Jewish law for the Conservative movement of his generation. In the meticulous style and approach of the Talmud scholarship of his generation, Roth painstakingly and precisely assayed the vast array of rabbinic legal sources, and proceeded to apply these in pedagogy, in scholarship and particularly in the production of contemporary legal responsa. The articles in this volume reflect the unique and integrated voice and vision that Joel Roth has brought to the American Jewish community. Readership: The readership will consist primarily of academics interested in the critical study of Talmud and related sources; the development of Jewish law; and rabbis in the field

Hakol Kol Yaakov

Hakol Kol Yaakov: The Joel Roth Jubilee Volume contains twenty articles dedicated to Rabbi Joel Roth, written by colleagues and students. Some are academic articles in the general area of Talmud and Rabbinics, while others are rabbinic responsa that treat an issue of contemporary Jewish law. In his career, Joel Roth has been known as a scholar and teacher of Talmud par excellence, and, without question, as the preeminent decisor of Jewish law for the Conservative movement of his generation. In the meticulous style and approach of the Talmud scholarship of his generation, Roth painstakingly and precisely assayed the vast array of rabbinic legal sources, and proceeded to apply these in pedagogy, in scholarship and particularly in the production of contemporary legal responsa. The articles in this volume reflect the unique and integrated voice and vision that Joel Roth has brought to the American Jewish community. Readership: The readership will consist primarily of academics interested in the critical study of Talmud and related sources; the development of Jewish law; and rabbis in the field