Raising the Perfect Person in the Totalitarian Practices of the Third Reich: Worldview and Philosophical Prerequisites and Modern Transhumanist Interpretations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31874/2309-1606-2026-32-1-8Keywords:
eugenics, racial hygiene, instrumental rationality, modernity, social Darwinism, perfect human, enhancement, transhumanismAbstract
The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the study and thorough analysis of totalitarian practices of eugenics and racial hygiene provides a key to understanding contemporary transhumanist philosophy and practices of bodily and spiritual improvement of the human being. It is noted that modern theories of “human enhancement” cannot be adequately understood outside their historical and philosophical genealogy. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate the worldview and philosophical origins of totalitarian practices of forming and educating the “perfect” human. Methods. Historical-philosophical and genealogical methods were used to reconstruct the origins of eugenic and racial-hygienic thinking. A comparative-historical approach made it possible to compare classical eugenic concepts with their radicalized forms in a totalitarian context. Hermeneutic analysis was used to interpret primary sources and scientific texts. A conceptual-analytical method was used to clarify key concepts. Novelty. The work systematically shows for the first time that the totalitarian eugenics of the Third Reich is not only an ideological phenomenon, but also the ultimate expression of the logic of modern rationality and biopolitical thinking. The conceptual connection between Nazi practices of “human enhancement” and modern transhumanist projects is substantiated through the idea of guided evolution, which allows us to identify the common risks of reducing humans to an object of technological construction. Conclusion. As a result, the research found that the ideological foundation of the totalitarian practices of the Third Reich was instrumental rationality of the modern era and a vulgar, presumptuous social Darwinism. It was determined that the theorists of Nazism inherited the leading idea of the Enlightenment era concerning rational planning and control of human life while combining it with pseudo-scientific racism.
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