21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Continued naturalist framework — humans as biological organisms confronting biological-technological challenges.

"In the twenty-first century, the merger of biotech and infotech has created the possibility of hacking the human organism itself; this is the central political-philosophical fact of our moment." (21 Lessons)

Critical-theoretical work on contemporary political-technological challenges.

"The political-philosophical work of the twenty-first century cannot be done with the categories of the twentieth; new categories are needed for new problems." (21 Lessons)

Strong cosmopolitan-political framework — global challenges requiring global-political response.

"Climate change, biotechnology, artificial intelligence — these are global challenges; no nation-state can address them alone." (21 Lessons)

Defends and complicates liberal-democratic-political tradition.

"Liberalism in its twentieth-century form is inadequate to the twenty-first century's challenges; what comes next is the question." (21 Lessons)

Engages — though does not endorse — the transhumanist political-technological prospects.

"The technical possibility of 'upgrading' the human organism is not the question; the political-philosophical question is what kind of upgrades, for whom." (21 Lessons)

Continued cognitive-evolutionary framing.

"Our cognitive evolution prepared us for the African savannah; the twenty-first century's challenges are mismatched to our evolved cognitive equipment." (21 Lessons)

Engages mainstream analytic-philosophical-political-ethical work.

"What we owe each other across nations and across species is the proper subject of the political-philosophical work the century requires." (21 Lessons)