Mankind’s Existence as First Commandment in Hans Jonas: Lessons for Contemporary Humanity

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

Mankind’s Existence as First Commandment in Hans Jonas: Lessons for Contemporary Humanity

Dr. Peter Takov
Catholic University of Cameroon, Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract: This paper seeks to present Hans Jonas’s view of the primacy of human existence amidst the catastrophes wrought by modern technology. It suggests that we understand the existence of mankind as the first commandment. Mankind today, more than ever before, stands as the main instrument of technological manipulation as evinced by recent scientific endeavours: genetic manipulation, human cloning as well as extension of human lifespan, not excluding the threat of a nuclear war. Although mankind has never been without technology, the negative consequences of modern technology are a call for concern. In line with Jonas’s novel ethic, we anchor the starting point of mankind’s responsibility for the care of the present and future generations on metaphysics.This is in a bid to bridge the yawning gap between the scientifically ascertained “is” and the morally binding “ought”in order to save mankind from an impending catastrophe.

Key Words: Jonas – Mankind – Existence –Ethics – Metaphysics – Responsibility – Technology

I. INTRODUCTION

During the so-called Jazz Age of the Twenties, Walter Lippmann observed that “the acids of modernity” had dissolved the religious certainties of the past. The influences of the scientific method and the growth of industrial and urban societies were largely responsible, he believed, for the loss of faith in absolutes. Even in the realm of morals, he added, the codes we had inherited from the Hebrews of the Old Testament were beginning to dissolve in the spirit of a new age. These exciting words capture the status quo of an epoch which has been described as an age of science and technology, characterized by its alternating benefits and catastrophic consequences which cannot elude our grasp.
It is within this ambient that Hans Jonas emerges and decries the near deification of human innovative powers in technology which is almost leading mankind to doom as evidenced by nuclear war, ecological ravage and genetic engineering which have today led to a degradation of human dignity as man is now looked upon more as an object of manipulation and research rather than a subject and an end-in-himself. Faced with these calamities, we find ourselves at the crossroads, indecisive on what direction to take; and we cannot help questioning: For what reasons is a being as fragile, contingent and mortal as ours, an absolute value?

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