Metaforer och människor: En undersökning av Emanuel Swedenborg och biohackingrörelsen
2021 (Swedish)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesisAlternative title
Metaphors and mortality : An analysis of Emanuel Swedenborg and the biohacker movement (English)
Abstract [en]
The purpose of this paper is to examine a philosophical basis for the biohacker movement. The paper discommends the dominating narrative of the movement, which portraits it as being exclusively motivated by scientific progress. In contrast, I argue that the biohacking phenomenon, besides scientific discoveries, has social, cultural and above all religious incentives. The hypothesis is that the concept of biohacking cannot be fully understood within the bounds of a modern scientific discourse.
The proposed narrative is put into practice via a comparison between the biohacking community and eighteenth-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. The comparison is established by this paper; Swedenborg is not recognized by biohackers at large. By associating Swedenborg with the phenomenon, I intend to present a tangible example that the questions raised by the biohackers outdates the scientific discoveries that is normally regarded as their primordial cause. By way of the parallel, the paper aims to highlight a structure of reasoning that would not be as protruding if the movement was to be examined on its own.
The comparison centers around how Swedenborg and the biohacker community uses metaphors to depict new and presumably better ways of being human. Their usage of the figure puts the traditional Lakoffian understanding to question. With this paper I explore the possibility of the metaphor shaping not only their understanding of the world, but also their understanding of the human condition. By examining how the rhetorical device is used by both traditions respectively, I intend to bring to light how they dissolve the border between man and the concept of god.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. , p. 37
Keywords [en]
Biohacking, Emanuel Swedenborg, Martina Johansson, Metaphors
Keywords [sv]
Biohacking, Emanuel Swedenborg, Martina Johansson, Metaforer, Förädlingsprojekt
National Category
History of Ideas
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-45614OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-45614DiVA, id: diva2:1563207
Subject / course
History of Ideas
Uppsok
Humanities, Theology
Supervisors
Examiners
2021-06-102021-06-092021-06-10Bibliographically approved