What makes humans human? What does it mean for humans to live a human life? What is the humanitas for which we ought to strive? This book discusses key philosophical and theological issues in the current debate, with particular focus on transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and the ethical challenges facing humanity in our technological culture.

For Kierkegaard the most important thing in life is to become a single individual or a true self. We are all born as human beings, but this makes us only members of a crowd, not true selves. To become a true self, we must transcend what we are at any given time and orient ourselves to the possible and to the actuality of the possible, to which all that is possible owes itself. True selves exist only in becoming, they are fragile, and that is their strength. They are not grounded by their own activities, but in a reality extra se, the flip side of which is a deep passivity that underlies all...

Is it possible to strive for autonomy and diversity in society without weakening the common good? How much autonomy and diversity are possible without destroying social cohesion and human solidarity? And how much social commonality is necessary to be able to live an autonomous life and do justice to diversity?