<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The paper examines the ethical dimensions of Michel Houellebecq’s works of fiction. On the basis of keen diagnostics of contemporary Western culture, this world-renowned French writer predicts the destructive social consequences of ultra-liberalism and enters into an argument with transhumanist theories. His writings, depicting the misery of contemporary man and imagining a new human species enhanced by technologies, show that neither the so-called neo-humans nor the “last man” of liberal democracies can reach happiness. The latter can only be achieved if humanist values, shared by previous generations and promoted by the great 19<sup>th</sup>-century authors (Balzac, Flaubert), are reinvented.</p></abstract>

The paper examines the ethical dimensions of Michel Houellebecq’s works of fiction. On the basis of keen diagnostics of contemporary Western culture, this world-renowned French writer predicts the destructive social consequences of ultra-liberalism and enters into an argument with transhumanist theories. His writings, depicting the misery of contemporary man and imagining a new human species enhanced by technologies, show that neither the so-called neo-humans nor the “last man” of liberal democracies can reach happiness. The latter can only be achieved if humanist values, shared by previous generations and promoted by the great 19th-century authors (Balzac, Flaubert), are reinvented.

A bitter diagnostic of the ultra-liberal human: Michel Houellebecq on some ethical issues

Ethics & Bioethics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The paper examines the ethical dimensions of Michel Houellebecq’s works of fiction. On the basis of keen diagnostics of contemporary Western culture, this...

A bitter diagnostic of the ultra-liberal human: Michel Houellebecq on some ethical issues

Published Online: Dec 11, 2019

Page range: 190 - 196

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2019-0013

Keywords
contemporary French literature, ultra-liberalism, humanism, transhumanism, end of man

© 2019 Zuzana Malinovská et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A bitter diagnostic of the ultra-liberal human: Michel Houellebecq on some ethical issues

Published Online: Dec 11, 2019

Page range: 190 - 196

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2019-0013

Keywordscontemporary French literature, ultra-liberalism, humanism, transhumanism, end of man

© 2019 Zuzana Malinovská et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
contemporary French literature, ultra-liberalism, humanism, transhumanism, end of man