Anthropomorphic Machines without Mortality: Artificial Intelligence, Embodiment, and the Erosion of Philosophical and Democratic Life

PDF
Published: Sep 21, 2026
Updated: 2026-09-21
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/dia.46983
Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence Philosophy Democracy Autonomy Eudaimonia
Michael Papademas
Ph .D . Candidate, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos” - Panteion University
Abstract

Artificial intelligence metamorphoses the tools through which humans think and act, as well as the conditions enabling philosophical enquiry. This paper examines how Artificial intelligence (AI) could weaken or circumvent four capacities essential to human eudaimonic life and democracy. Specifically, the capacities I identify are deliberative judgments, embodiments, public reason, and finitude. These capacities atrophy when AI systems reduce choice to a single algorithmic best option, pushing people away from energetic deliberation and weakening their autonomy. They are also undermined when digital forms of interaction distance people from embodied presence, when algorithmic personalisation and synthetic media erode the shared conditions of trust and understanding that public reason depends on, and when transhumanist hopes of overcoming mortality weaken finitude as the horizon of vulnerability, urgency, and meaning from which philosophy arises. I argue that these capacities are fundamental to autonomy, meaning, and collective political engagement. While AI can increase access to knowledge, support learning, and assist deliberation, these advantages are conditional. They are beneficial only if AI enhances human enquiry rather than replaces it. Synoptically, philosophical practice must remain an embodied, finite, and dialogical human activity, while, in parallel, AI is developed in ways that enhance previous capacities without replacing them.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. University of Chicago Press.
Arendt, H. (1978). The life of the mind. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Aristotle. (1975). Nicomachean ethics (A. Dalezios, Trans., Intro. & Notes). Papyros.
Bhandari, A., & Bimo, S. (2022). Why's everyone on TikTok now? The algorithmized self and the future of self-making on social media. Social Media + Society, 8(1).
Bostrom, N. (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, dangers, strategies. Oxford University Press.
Chesney, R., & Citron, D. (2019). Deep fakes: A looming challenge for privacy, democracy, and national security. California Law Review, 107(6), 1753-1820.
Cinelli, M., De Francisci Morales, G., Galeazzi, A., Quattrociocchi, W., & Starnini, M. (2021). The echo chamber effect on social media. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(9).
Coeckelbergh, M. (2025). LLMs, truth, and democracy: An overview of risks. Science and Engineering Ethics, 31(4).
Crompton, H., & Burke, D. (2023). Artificial intelligence in higher education: The state of the field. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 20, Article 22.
Decker, H. (2025). The role of content personalisation in political social media campaigning: A review of political microtargeting. Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 35, 83-98.
Deligiorgi, A. (2017). Rethinking the Arendtian approach of the Kantian Critique of Judgment. Dia-noesis: A Journal of Philosophy, 4, 9-32.
Dessimoz, C., & Thomas, P. D. (2024). AI and the democratization of knowledge. Scientific Data, 11.
Dreyfus, H. L. (2001). On the internet. Routledge.
Du Plooy, E., Casteleijn, D., & Franzsen, D. (2024). Personalized adaptive learning in higher education: A scoping review of key characteristics and impact on academic performance and engagement. Heliyon, 10(21).
Eg, R., Tønnesen, Ö. D., & Tennfjord, M. K. (2023). A scoping review of personalized user experiences on social media: The interplay between algorithms and human factors. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 9, Article 100253.
Ferdman, A. (2025). AI, deskilling, and the prospects for public reason. Minds and Machines, 35.
Fitas, R. (2025). Inclusive education with AI: Supporting special needs and tackling language barriers. AI and Ethics.
Flaxman, S., Goel, S., & Rao, J. M. (2016). Filter bubbles, echo chambers, and online news consumption. Public Opinion Quarterly, 80(S1), 298-320.
Gallagher, S. (2005). How the body shapes the mind. Oxford University Press.
Gallagher, S. (2017). Enactivist interventions: Rethinking the mind. Oxford University Press.
Green, J., McCabe, S., Shugars, S., Chwe, H., Horgan, L., Cao, S., & Lazer, D. (2025). Curation bubbles. American Political Science Review, 119(4), 1704-1722.
Habermas, J. (1984). The theory of communicative action (Vol. 1). Beacon Press.
Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society (T. Burger, Trans.). MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1996). Between facts and norms: Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy (W. Rehg, Trans.). MIT Press.
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). Harper & Row.
Heidegger, M. (1977). The question concerning technology. In W. Lovitt (Trans.), The question concerning technology and other essays. Harper & Row.
Jungherr, A., & Rauchfleisch, A. (2025). Artificial intelligence in deliberation: The AI penalty and the emergence of a new deliberative divide. Government Information Quarterly, 42(4).
Kurzweil, R. (2005). The singularity is near. Viking Press.
Laitinen, A., & Sahlgren, O. (2021). AI systems and respect for human autonomy. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 4.
Lu, W. (2024). Inevitable challenges of autonomy: Ethical concerns in personalized algorithmic decision-making. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). Routledge.
Michalon, B., & Camacho-Zuñiga, C. (2023). ChatGPT, a brand-new tool to strengthen timeless competencies. Frontiers in Education, 8.
Nakamoto, R., Flanagan, B., Dai, Y., Yamauchi, T., Takami, K., & Ogata, H. (2023). Enhancing self-explanation learning through a real-time feedback system: An empirical evaluation study. Sustainability, 15(21).
Nguyen, T. T., Hui, P. M., Harper, F. M., Terveen, L., & Konstan, J. A. (2014). Exploring the filter bubble: The effect of using recommender systems on content diversity. In Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on World Wide Web (pp. 677-686). ACM.
Noë, A. (2004). Action in perception. MIT Press.
Onishi, B. B. (2011). Information, bodies, and Heidegger: Tracing visions of the posthuman. SOPHIA, 50, 101-112.
Papacharalambous, C. (2021). Other's caress and God's passing by: Levinas encountering Heidegger. Dia-noesis: A Journal of Philosophy, 11, 77-94.
Parr, C. S. (2025). Does social media undermine trust? Institutional trust in civil society and governance institutions. Journal of Public Policy, 45(4), 737-760.
Pawelec, M. (2022). Deepfakes and democracy (theory): How synthetic audio-visual media for disinformation and hate speech threaten core democratic functions. Digital Society, 1, Article 19.
Peltomäki, H. (2023). Meaningfulness, death, and finitude: Philosophy of meaning in life. Human Arenas.
Pigliucci, M. (2014). Mind uploading: A philosophical counter-analysis. In R. Blackford & D. Broderick (Eds.), Intelligence unbound: The future of uploaded and machine minds (pp. 119-130). Wiley-Blackwell.
Plato. (1997). Phaedo. In J. M. Cooper (Ed.), Plato: Complete works. Hackett.
Quong, J. (2022). Public reason. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Spring 2022 ed.). Stanford University.
Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Harvard University Press.
Rawls, J. (2005). Political liberalism. Columbia University Press.
Schiff, K. J., Schiff, D. S., & Bueno, N. S. (2025). The liar's dividend: Can politicians claim misinformation to evade accountability? American Political Science Review, 119(1), 71-90.
Seo, K., Tang, J., Roll, I., Fels, S., & Yoon, D. (2021). The impact of artificial intelligence on learner-instructor interaction in online learning. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 18, Article 54.
Simchon, A., Edwards, M., Lewandowsky, S., & Ognyanova, K. (2024). The persuasive effects of political microtargeting in the age of generative artificial intelligence. PNAS Nexus, 3(2).
Tessler, M. H., Bakker, M. A., Jarrett, D., Sheahan, H., Chadwick, M. J., Koster, R., Evans, G., Campbell-Gillingham, L., Collins, T., Parkes, D. C., Botvinick, M., & Summerfield, C. (2024). AI can help humans find common ground in democratic deliberation. Science, 386(6719).
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together. Basic Books.
Vasudha, V., & Choudhary, S. (2026). Virtual reality and embodiment: Rethinking self-construction and identity in therapeutic contexts. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 7.
Vavouras, E. (2020). The Platonic proof of the immortality of the soul with three arguments: (a) The argument of anamnesis, (b) the argument of the opposites, (c) the argument of similarity Meno 80a-86c and Phaedo 70e-80e. Dia-noesis: A Journal of Philosophy, 8, 127-140.
Verbeek, P.-P. (2011). Moralizing technology: Understanding and designing the morality of things. University of Chicago Press.
Xie, T., Kuang, Y., Tang, Y., Liao, J., & Yang, Y. (2025). Using LLM-supported lecture summarization system to improve knowledge recall and student satisfaction. Expert Systems with Applications, 269.
Yeung, K. (2017). Hypernudge: Big data as a mode of regulation by design. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 118-136.
Zawacki-Richter, O., Marín, V. I., Bond, M., & Gouverneur, F. (2019). Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education—where are the educators? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16, Article 39.