FROM HOMO SAPIENS TO HOMO DEUS: WHO STILL COUNTS AS A ‘PERSON’ BEFORE THE LAW?
FROM HOMO SAPIENS TO HOMO DEUS: WHO STILL COUNTS AS A ‘PERSON’ BEFORE THE LAW?

Summary/Abstract: The accelerated progress of biotechnology, artificial intelligence and neurotechnology is reopening one of the oldest and most stable categories of law: that of the person. This article offers a critical analysis of how the transhumanist movement, through its project of transcending the biological limits of the human species, and the emergence of artificial entities endowed with decision-making autonomy, call for a reassessment of the legal foundations of personhood. The first part examines the philosophical genesis of the transhumanist project and its tension with the classical anthropocentrism of law. The second part analyses the debate on the legal personhood of artificial intelligence and autonomous agents, from the European Parliament's proposal on electronic personhood to contemporary functional models of limited personhood. The third thematic section investigates the normative challenges posed by human enhancement and radical longevity, examining how the blurring of the biological boundaries of the human body affects the legal standards of identity and personal dignity. The conclusions articulate a nuanced position, according to which the law should not abandon its constitutive anthropocentrism, but should reconstruct it through a functional and gradual model of personhood, capable of responding to the increased diversity of legal subjects in the twenty-first century. The study contributes to the specialist literature through an interdisciplinary synthesis that brings transhumanist philosophy, legal theory of personhood and the bioethics of emerging technologies into dialogue.

• Details
• Contents