Hans Jonas

Dzieła

• 1979Zasada odpowiedzialności

  Nowy imperatyw dla cywilizacji technologicznej.

Stanowisko

Jonas began as a historian of Gnosticism, then developed a philosophy of the organism: even the simplest metabolism shows a freedom and inwardness that link all life to the human mind. His best-known work, The Imperative of Responsibility, starts from the observation that modern technology has given human action a reach that traditional ethics never foresaw: our deeds affect the whole biosphere and distant generations. Jonas therefore formulated a new imperative: “Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life on earth.” Since the long-term consequences are uncertain, he recommended a “heuristics of fear,” giving more weight to the bad prognosis than to the good. His work became a foundation of environmental and bioethics.

Życie i kontekst

Jonas was born in Mönchengladbach in 1903 and studied with Husserl, Heidegger and the theologian Rudolf Bultmann; his dissertation was on Gnosticism. In 1933 he emigrated to England and Palestine and fought in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army; his mother was murdered in Auschwitz. From 1955 he taught at the New School for Social Research in New York; in 1987 he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

Dalsze główne dzieła

• Gnosis and the Spirit of Late Antiquity (1934)
• The Phenomenon of Life (1966)
• The Imperative of Responsibility (1979)
• The Concept of God after Auschwitz (1987)

Pojawia się w

• Podróż „Myśleć po Auschwitz” · Przystanek 7 z 10
• Debata „Klimat, antropocen i odpowiedzialność wobec przyszłości”