Back to Nature: A Jonasian Approach to the Problem of Mankind’s Excessive Exploitation of the Natural Environment

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XII, December 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Back to Nature: A Jonasian Approach to the Problem of Mankind’s Excessive Exploitation of the Natural Environment

 Peter Takov
Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC), Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract: This article, informed by the current situation of technological advancements, analyzes and discusses solutions to it as presented by the Jewish Philosopher, Hans Jonas, who is believed to have “prophesied” ahead of his time. In this paper, I argue that what Jonas concurred in his days is more binding at the moment and will continue to reverberate for ages to come. In an attempt to discuss the Jonasian contribution to the issue of environmental protection and preservation, which touches on the ethics of responsibility, sandwiched by other contemporary thoughts that matter, I add another voice to the palaver of environmental protection. I argue primarily for the need for a conscious use of the environment, for an ethics and for the positive involvement of policy makers on the issue. I strongly stress the importance of implementing the Jonasian categorical imperative; “Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life”. My conclusion is that without an ethics of responsibility the future of mankind and of the whole biosphere is at stake. It is an ethical call to individual consciences – an ethics of the “first person.”

Keywords: Jonas, Environment, Environmental Ethics, Technology, Responsibility, Nature, Categorical Imperative.

I.PRELUDE

Man’s activities on our planet have recently evolved to a level of putting the eco-system in chaos: while gaseous molecules from the fuming engines of aircrafts descend to collide with the toxic gases emitted by industries into the atmosphere, sewage is widespread by the explosions of deep-sea mining; while mining explosives disturb the peace of the earth’s crust, the bombs of war and the noise of aircrafts compete for audibility; yet mankind’s claims of dominion over the universe does not rule out the reality that man is but one among millions of living species that co-exist in the universe. As Johan Rockström rightly observed in a startling January 2015 paper in science, the rapid change of climate, the rapid extinction of species, the addition of more nutrients like nitrogen to our ecosystem, and deforestation, among other human activities, are eloquent testimonies to the fact that mankind has raced past four of the nine boundaries keeping our planet hospitable to humanity, and thus we are inching towards crossing the remaining five boundaries.
In recent decades, the exigency of catering for the environment has been a call for common concern. Nevertheless, the reorientation of modern societies towards the biological limits of the planet will not be achieved without a related quest for justice and the common good in human affairs. Man needs to rethink his use of the environment and enliven his concerns to its care. It is no wonder that the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero proclaimed that “human

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