Responsibility for Life: A Descriptive View on Hans Jonas’ Ethics

Abstract

Among the few philosophers who dedicated philosophical reflection on the problem of technology, Hans Jonas would be the leading one. Still in a close affinity with Martin Heidegger, his teacher, Jonas argued that modern technology bore some annoying characters. In line of this anxiety, Jonas suggested the importance of protecting life as an integral part of the ethical project he intended to build. Departing from his basic notion that human life is never separated from other organic life, Jonas has opened a wider space for ethical responsibilities towards life of the whole cosmos. In what sense is his notion of the responsibility towards the whole life should be understood is one of the aim of this paper. Baring in mind that Jonas developed his concept on life and human responsibility towards it as an argumentation against the development of technology, the social context in which modern technology finds its root is worthed to be discussed. It is concluded that separating ethics from ontology as many theorists and philosophers did so far has strengthened the old notion of human autonomy with its defects, and by that, the destruction of life seemed to be accepted as a consequence of it.

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“…The effects of technological action are, in many cases, difficult to predict, it is necessary to adopt conservative principles that take all these aspects into account [9][10][11].…”