Beyond Nature and Technology. Theological Anthropology in the Context of Digitization

In the context of digitalization, particularly in the field of information technology (AI and robotics) and in trans- and post-humanism, images of humans and anthropological concepts have emerged that blur the line between human and machine. They comprehend nature, human beings and technology primarily in scientific and information-theoretical terms. Experiences of concrete bodily existence and liveliness are thus at risk of being reduced to an illusory by-product of what can be scientifically measured, modeled and technically reproduced.

Our research project aims to first investigate these «digital anthropologies». Using hermeneutic methods in particular, they will be analyzed with regard to their philosophical premises, epistemic claims, explanatory power and cultural and, in some cases,  religious implications. In a subsequent step, selected holistic theological and philosophical anthropologies will be evaluated and brought into a critical-constructive dialogue with those «digital anthropologies» based on the concept of person.

The aim is to increase the argumentative language and judgment skills of theological anthropology in the context of digitalization so as to enable an initial contouring and tentative profiling of an «inclusive humanism», which can emphasize both the specific qualities that set humans apart and their inescapable interconnectedness with nature and technology.