Article Unfit for the future? The depoliticization of human perfectibility, from the Enlightenment to transhumanism Nicolas Le De ´ve ´dec HECMontre´al, Montre´al, Que´bec, Canada Abstract An intellectual and cultural movement advocating a radical enhancement of human performance via technoscientific and biomedical advances, transhumanism has grown in notoriety in recent years. Grouping engineers, philosophers, sociologists, and entrepreneurs, the movement and its ideals of enhanced humans have a strong social resonance, be it doping in sport, the use of smart drugs, or the biomedical battle against aging. This article sheds theoretical and critical light on transhumanism through the lens of human perfectibility. It particularly aims to show how the movement marks a significant reversal of the humanist conception of human per- fectibility inherited from the Enlightenment. Far from working for the social and political emancipation of humans and the human condition, transhumanism is emblematic of a depoliticized conception of human perfectibility focused on the technoscientific adaptation of the human being. Transhumanism thus marks a major rupture with the modern democratic project of autonomy. Keywords autonomy, the Enlightenment, human enhancement, human perfectibility, political philosophy, transhumanism Corresponding author: Nicolas Le De ´ve ´dec, Department of Management, HEC Montre ´al, 3000 chemin de la Co ˆ te-Sainte-Catherine, Montre ´al, Que ´bec, H3T 2A7, Canada. Email: nicolas.le-devedec@hec.ca European Journal of Social Theory 2018, Vol. 21(4) 488–507 ª The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1368431017750974 journals.sagepub.com/home/est