References
Prof. Dr. Frank Hentschel/Prof. of Musicology at University of Cologne
Prof. Dr. Julian Savulescu/Prof. of Practival Ethics at the University of Oxford
Prof. Dr. Gianni Vattimo/Prof. emer. of Philosophy at the University of Turin
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Welsch/Prof. emer. of Philosophy at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Prof. Dr. Julian Savulescu/Prof. of Practival Ethics at the University of Oxford
Prof. Dr. Gianni Vattimo/Prof. emer. of Philosophy at the University of Turin
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Welsch/Prof. emer. of Philosophy at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
History of the Beyond Humanism Conference Series
The conference series is dedicated to the goal of promoting the intellectual and artistic exchange between various movements which attempt to transcend a dualist understanding of humanism. Thereby, the Anglo-American transhumanism is being considered as well as the more continental posthumanism or the newly estalished metahumanism which aims to integrate several insights of the two other movements.
1st Conference: Humanism and Posthumanism
University of Belgrade, 6th-9th of April 2009
Organisers: Irina Deretic, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
2nd Conference: Audiovisual Posthumanism
University of the Aegean, 23rd-27th of September 2010,
Organisers: Domna Pastourmatzi, Evi Sampanikou, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
3rd Conference: Transforming Human Nature
City University Dublin, 21st-23rd of October 2011
Organisers: Curtis Carbonell, Michael Hauskeller, Dónal O'Mathúna, Thomas D. Philbeck, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
4th Conference: Enhancement, Emerging Technologies, and Social Challenges
International University Centre Dubrovnik, 10.-14. of September 2012
Organisers: Curtis Carbonell, Dónal O'Mathúna, Thomas D. Philbeck, Darko Polsek, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
5th Conference: The Posthuman: Differences, Embodiments, Performativity
University of Roma 3, Rome, Italy, 11.-14. of September 2013
Organisers: Francesca Brezzi, Francesca Ferrando, Dónal O’Mathúna, Evi Sampanikou, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
6th Conference: Posthuman Politics
University of the Aegean, 25th-28th of September 2014
Organisers: Evi Sampanikou, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Domna Pastourmatzi, Dónal O’Mathúna, Francesca Ferrando, Jaime del Val
7th Conference: From Humanism to Post- and Transhumanism?
Ewha Womans University, 15th-18th of September 2015
Organisers: Sangkyu Shin, Hyesook Jeon, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Evi Sampanikou, Jaime del Val, James Hughes
8th Conference: Posthuman Studies and Technologies of Control: From Nietzsche to Trans- Post- and Metahumanism
Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Faculty of Philosophy; 25th-28th of May 2016
Organisers: Jaime del Val, Mariano Rodriguez Gonzalez, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Sangkyu Shin, Francesca Ferrando.
9th Conference: Posthuman Studies – Humanities, Metahumanities, Posthumanities
John Cabot University, Rome
Organisers: Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Jaime del Val, Evi Sampanikou, Sangkyu Shin, Francesca Ferrando.
Here you find a short video summary of the event:
http://beyondhumanism.org/blog/2017/08/05/video-9th-beyond-humanism-conference-rome-2017
10th Conference: Cultures of the Posthuman, Wroclaw, Poland, Faculty of Social Sciences and Journalism, University of Lower Silesia.
Organisers: Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Jaime del Val, Evi Sampanikou, Sangkyu Shin, Francesca Ferrando, Jan Stasienko, Maciej Czerniakowski.
11th Conference Critical Posthumanism and Transhumanism: The Posthuman Paradigm Shift at the Catholic University of Lille, 9-12.7.2019.
Organisers: Jaime del Val, Reverso Institute; Sangkyu Shin, Ewha Womans University; Francesca Ferrando, NYU, John Cabot University, Rome; David Doat, Catholic University of Lille.
Nietzsche and Trans-, Post- and Metahumanism
An article of mine brought about a debate on the relationship between Nietzsche and trans- and posthumanism:
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20120423
The debate has already been received in the secondary literature on Nietzsche, e.g. „Understanding Nietzscheanism“ by Ashley Woodward (Acumen, 2011). As a consequence of the debate the Spanish artist Jaime del Val and I developed metahumanism which can be seen as a weak version of both trans- as well as posthumanism or an attempt to bridge the debate between both traditions.
A further aspect of my position has been presented in my monograph on human dignity in which I developed further Nietzsche's ethics as well as Vattimo's pensiero debole. The position has been widely received already, e.g. in the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung":
http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/startseite/die-kroenung-1.9749750
Or in "The Journal of Nietzsche Studies" by Prof. Greg Whitlock:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/jns/reviews/stefan-lorenz-sorgner-menschenwurde-nach-nietzsche-die-geschichte-eines-begriffes
The Nietzsche Forum Munich had organized a conference based upon this monograph of mine, too, (“Menschenwürde nach Nietzsche” (WBG 2010)) and had invited many German speaking scholars (e.g. Prof. Annemarie Pieper) of different Academic fields to discuss various issues related to the book. Here is a link to the program of the symposium:
http://www.nietzsche-forum-muenchen.de/aktuell/einladungen/251012_raetsel_mensch.html
In April 2014, an essay collection with the various papers will be forthcoming (ed. Beatrix Vogel: Umwertung der Menschenwürde - Kontroversen mit und nach Nietzsche. Alber Verlag):
http://www.verlag-alber.de/vorschau/details_html?k_tnr=48655&k_onl_struktur=1419357
I explained central elements of my own position in an interview which was published on the 7th of May 2013 in the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" which has a print run of 520000 copies and about 2 million readers per issue:
http://www.zeit.de/2013/20/transhumanismus-philosoph-stefan-lorenz-sorgner
On the 27th of September, I presented central ideas of mine on genetic alteration in my first TED talk in the Villa Farnesina in Rome:
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Suggestions-for-a-Posthuman-Zoo;search%3ASorgner
In Vienna, I participated in a public discussion on longevity in the Austrian Academiy of Sciences at the 9th of October 2013. A selection of the intellectual exchange was broadcasted in an Austrian radio program at the 14th of October:
www.oeaw.ac.at/ikt/fileadmin/mediapool/archiv/emf/audio/e22_2013_2.mp3
At the 8th of December 2013, I took part in a live television debate on public German television (WDR, 11am-12.25pm) which dealt with the topic "the dream of the perfect human being".
At the 16th of June 2014, my position was included in a radio program on transhumanism (Deutschlandradio Kultur, 7.30-8 pm)
http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/ueber-das-menschsein-hinaus.976.de.html?dram:article_id=289308
At the 5th of September 2014 from 8 to 9 pm, I was interviewed live on German public radio (WDR) for about one hour in the well known German radio show "Das philosophische Radio":
http://www.wdr5.de/sendungen/philosophischesradio/stefansorgner100.html
At the 21st of March 2015, Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcasted an interview with me on the question whether we all will turn into Cyborgs eventually:
http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/biotechnologie-werden-wir-alle-bald-cyborgs.1008.de.html?dram:article_id=314887
Several aspects of my position were received in international media, e.g.:
Greece - ekathimerini.com
Austria - orf.at
Italy - tgischia.it
France - siliconmaniacs.org
Germany - morgenweb.de
Germany - focus.de
Germany - WDR5
Some videos:
General survey of the enhancement debates - in German
A specific analysis whether there is a moral duty of genetic enhancement by selection - in German
An interview on Nietzsche and transhumanism (Adam Ford, directorial board of Humanity+) - in English
An outline of metahumanism - in English
Twelve pillars of his phiosophical approach - in German
A critical debate concerning the relationship of humanism and transhumanism - in German
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20120423
The debate has already been received in the secondary literature on Nietzsche, e.g. „Understanding Nietzscheanism“ by Ashley Woodward (Acumen, 2011). As a consequence of the debate the Spanish artist Jaime del Val and I developed metahumanism which can be seen as a weak version of both trans- as well as posthumanism or an attempt to bridge the debate between both traditions.
A further aspect of my position has been presented in my monograph on human dignity in which I developed further Nietzsche's ethics as well as Vattimo's pensiero debole. The position has been widely received already, e.g. in the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung":
http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/startseite/die-kroenung-1.9749750
Or in "The Journal of Nietzsche Studies" by Prof. Greg Whitlock:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/jns/reviews/stefan-lorenz-sorgner-menschenwurde-nach-nietzsche-die-geschichte-eines-begriffes
The Nietzsche Forum Munich had organized a conference based upon this monograph of mine, too, (“Menschenwürde nach Nietzsche” (WBG 2010)) and had invited many German speaking scholars (e.g. Prof. Annemarie Pieper) of different Academic fields to discuss various issues related to the book. Here is a link to the program of the symposium:
http://www.nietzsche-forum-muenchen.de/aktuell/einladungen/251012_raetsel_mensch.html
In April 2014, an essay collection with the various papers will be forthcoming (ed. Beatrix Vogel: Umwertung der Menschenwürde - Kontroversen mit und nach Nietzsche. Alber Verlag):
http://www.verlag-alber.de/vorschau/details_html?k_tnr=48655&k_onl_struktur=1419357
I explained central elements of my own position in an interview which was published on the 7th of May 2013 in the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" which has a print run of 520000 copies and about 2 million readers per issue:
http://www.zeit.de/2013/20/transhumanismus-philosoph-stefan-lorenz-sorgner
On the 27th of September, I presented central ideas of mine on genetic alteration in my first TED talk in the Villa Farnesina in Rome:
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Suggestions-for-a-Posthuman-Zoo;search%3ASorgner
In Vienna, I participated in a public discussion on longevity in the Austrian Academiy of Sciences at the 9th of October 2013. A selection of the intellectual exchange was broadcasted in an Austrian radio program at the 14th of October:
www.oeaw.ac.at/ikt/fileadmin/mediapool/archiv/emf/audio/e22_2013_2.mp3
At the 8th of December 2013, I took part in a live television debate on public German television (WDR, 11am-12.25pm) which dealt with the topic "the dream of the perfect human being".
At the 16th of June 2014, my position was included in a radio program on transhumanism (Deutschlandradio Kultur, 7.30-8 pm)
http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/ueber-das-menschsein-hinaus.976.de.html?dram:article_id=289308
At the 5th of September 2014 from 8 to 9 pm, I was interviewed live on German public radio (WDR) for about one hour in the well known German radio show "Das philosophische Radio":
http://www.wdr5.de/sendungen/philosophischesradio/stefansorgner100.html
At the 21st of March 2015, Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcasted an interview with me on the question whether we all will turn into Cyborgs eventually:
http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/biotechnologie-werden-wir-alle-bald-cyborgs.1008.de.html?dram:article_id=314887
Several aspects of my position were received in international media, e.g.:
Greece - ekathimerini.com
Austria - orf.at
Italy - tgischia.it
France - siliconmaniacs.org
Germany - morgenweb.de
Germany - focus.de
Germany - WDR5
Some videos:
General survey of the enhancement debates - in German
A specific analysis whether there is a moral duty of genetic enhancement by selection - in German
An interview on Nietzsche and transhumanism (Adam Ford, directorial board of Humanity+) - in English
An outline of metahumanism - in English
Twelve pillars of his phiosophical approach - in German
A critical debate concerning the relationship of humanism and transhumanism - in German
Hobbies
While I was living in London, I enjoyed writing songs and making music. Now, I am fond of attending operas, concerts, and plays.
