Review article
Cyborgization in Sport – Creating the Boundaryless Body in the Age of Transhumanism
Ivana Greguric
orcid.org/0000-0002-0148-2334
; Odjel komunikacija, Visoka poslovna škola Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
Cyborgization of the natural body is enabled by new techniques which have, on one side, given the opportunity for the handicapped persons to participate in sport events and enter the competition alongside the healthy sportsmen, while on the other side, they have opened up the possibility of creating an enhanced human being (with better physical and mental capabilities) who also wishes to participate in these events. The case of cyborg athlete Oscar Pistorius has raised numerous ethical questions regarding enhancement and production of artificial body parts, and provoked controversies in the world of sport.
This paper is organized in four parts. The first part offers a basic insight into the cyborgization of the human body and the desire to create stronger, faster, and more enduring human body. The second part examines the possibilities offered by cyborgization in sport using the example of Oscar Pistorius, whose legs were amputated and later substituted with prosthesis. Through the analysis of different options opened up in this sphere emerges the need of creating a distinction between a cyborg-athlete and a natural one. The third part examines the boundaries of moral and legal justifications of enhancement of the imperfect human body, alongside with the consideration of the ethical dilemmas in sport, as are the ones in the Pistorius case. The fourth part raises the questions of "artificial" winners, fair competition between natural and "cyborg" athletes, as well as the question of their joined competition.
The main ethical dilemma in sport is the one of setting up the boundaries of interventions in human body: restoring lost functions while preserving naturalness by using different forms of artificial enhancement which body originally does not posses.
Keywords
ethics; cyborg; enhancement; natural body; sport; transhumanism
Hrčak ID:
94724
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2012.
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