Le médicament comme objet technique

Abstract

Since drugs are used not only to treat patients, but also to transform human performances, this paradigm shift in medical practice blurs the lines between therapeutic medicine and so-called ameliorative or augmentative medicine. Observing that these borders are erasing leads us to question drugs, often qualified in the scientific literature as an object at the interface between social and technical aspects. By relying on a selection of classic authors from the philosophy, history and anthropology of techniques, this article aims to show that drug, like any technical object, is first and foremost part of an underlying upstream social project, which goes well beyond the uses that can be made downstream. In particular, these reflections allow us to analyze the object « drug » as the product of a society oriented towards the controlling of life and deeply imbued with transhumanist values.

Keywords

• anthropology
• drug
• border
• social
• technical
• transhumanism