Eugenic Cosmopolitics: Interwar Transhumanism and World Order

• Department of History

This workshop features a talk with Professor Duncan Bell.

In this talk, Professor Bell will explore the visions of world (and cosmic) order found in the work of three key interwar transhumanists, the scientists J. B. S. Haldane and J. D. Bernal, and the philosopher-novelist Olaf Stapledon. These authors defended variants of "eugenic cosmopolitics," a mode of political universalism, issuing in a world government and the dream of space colonization, grounded in the ambition to reengineer human nature.

Duncan Bell is Professor of Political Thought and International Relations at the University of Cambridge. He works on British and American intellectual history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a particular focus in empire, international order, technology and utopia. His most recent book is Dreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-American (Princeton, 2020). His current research is on the history of the future, from the late nineteenth century to the present.

Registrations:

Please note that the event will be held in Sala del Torrino and in hybrid mode. Places are limited, kindly pre-register for on-site attendance using the "register" button below. If you wish to participate remotely, please contact Alba Parrini in order to receive the zoom link.