• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• no.126
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• pp.85-115
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• 2019

With the dramatic development of science and technology since the twentieth century, attempts to overcome human's natural and physical limitations through technology have actually reached a peak. Transhumanism is a movement that strongly affirms these human technological attempts. However, this optimistic belief of transhumanism in technology meets the strong resistance of opponents contending that transhumanism might destroy human nature and severely undermine human values and rights. The focus of the transhumanism debate lies in what technology means to humans. However, in order to exactly grasp the essence of transhumanism, we should first consider our 'life-world', where technology and humans are closely intertwined. The word 'life-world(Lebenswelt)' which originally comes from Husserl, is an open and universal world as a horizon that is the basis of all human practical activities and at the same time encompasses its products in itself. According to Husserl, the process of incorporating human products into the life-world is a kind of 'familiarization' process through which specific theories and techniques are harmonized with our lives in the life-world. Such harmonization and familiarization of technology could be also considered a humanization of technology. It is a process in which technology is assimilated and corresponds to the finiteness of human and the life-world. In this sense, we could say that the transhumanistic attempts are just a natural expression of human desire to be perfect in the life-world and that they should not be overly concerned or overestimated.