In this thesis, I examine traditional philosophical arguments concerning the disabled body. I contribute to disability theory by focusing on disabled individuals who employ the use of advanced prosthetics, and by looking at the implications of said prosthetics on disabled individuals’ lived experiences and the ideology of disability. I join other thinkers in finding current disability theory inadequate in its attempts to accurately describe disability and aid disabled individuals to flourish and resist discrimination and marginalization. I suggest that advanced prosthetic use by disabled persons results in the overt cyborgification of the disabled body. Furthermore, I suggest that the cyborgification of the disabled body requires us to re-evaluate the binary of ability vs. disability, and requires us to stop essentializing the disabled body as disabled. I suggest therefore, that these new technologies should be considered morally permissible, and respond to possible objections from the standpoints of fairness and from concerns more broadly regarding transhumanism. Ultimately, questions remain as to any regulatory schemes that should possibly be put in place regarding advanced prosthetics to either limit or promote access to advanced prosthetic technologies for various groups, and to what degree disabled persons should be able to draw on medical resources to access advanced prosthetics. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / In this thesis I aim at unpacking the ways in which traditional theories about disability fail to view the disabled body in an accurate way. I examine the advance of prosthetic technologies as they relate to disability and suggest that in this way the disabled person is a very good example of a cyborg. I then apply cyborg ideologies to ideas of disability and suggest the cyborgification of the disabled body is beneficial both from a flourishing and an ideological standpoint. I finally consider and respond to some objections against advanced prosthetics and transhumanism more broadly.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/20287 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Sargent, Samantha Lynne |
| Contributors | Gedge, Elisabeth, Philosophy |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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