Transsociality as uncertainty or incertitude of the human condition

Abstract

Uncertainty, dynamism of transformations, liquid and incertitude are the leading features of the present age, through which time, society, and human situation are increasingly defined. This work examines the interrelationships between human position and social change in traditional, modern, and postmodern societies. The “social – personal” system is considered in the context of changes in the understanding of the humanistic attitude. Thus, the humanism of pre-modern society is particular, i.e. limited to belonging to a certain group, whose virtues are nurtured and formed through education. The sociality of traditional society is natural, rooted in the idea of the divine, and it aspires to the transcendent. In return, modern sociality is constructed around an exclusive humanism that excludes the transcendent, for which only the human matters are important. The sociality of postmodern society is correlated with the spread of antihumanism and transhumanism, both of which overcome the boundaries of the abstract idea of the universal human subject in different ways. One of them is focusing on the phenomena beyond the human nature, and the other one is oriented toward its improvement. The goal of the second approach is to use new technologies to overcome death, aging, and suffering which also applies to all living things beyond humanity.
In crisis periods of changes in the type of sociality, uncertainty and insecurity increase, which is analyzed in two paradigms. A resource-oriented view of the history of mankind shows the modern improvement of the human condition, focusing on the further development of the state’s human capital (plasticity, adaptability, stress resilience, creativity, cognitive and emotional abilities of individuals). The defined position of consideration differs from the consideration of a person in pre-modern and modern societies, when a person was a physical resource and social capital. A problem-oriented approach analyzes signs of crises and dangers, foresees possible options for the development of events, and warns of possible disasters in order to be protected from them. Thus, the analysis of the crisis of sociality indicates the emergence of its new multiple forms, which are formed both by dispersal and by going beyond the boundaries of human communities, which allows describing new forms of sociality through the concept of transsociality.