At present, the problem of the posthuman attracts the attention of a wide circle of representatives of the scientific community due to the extreme importance of the very question of the future of mankind, which receives the whole spectrum of critical opinions: from enthusiastic optimistic assessments to apocalyptic diagnoses. Such a wide range of opinions is explained by the inconsistency of the main theses of the concept of posthuman, which was formed in the framework of the theory of transhumanism. The article gives an interpretation of the process of forming the contours of a new human ontology, causing heated debate. A careful analysis shows that the positivist approach prevails in the basis of the arguments of the transhumanist concept, which is characterized by an abundance of utilitarian, biotechnological and other interpretations of the upcoming transhuman, posthuman, and at the same time, the existential essence of an existing person does not fall into or is not consciously placed in the conceptual field.