Reconstructing ethics. Hans Jonas’ “The Imperative of Responsibility”, future generations and the ironical situation of ethics

Von   5. Januar 2016

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

In his book “The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age”, Hans Jonas calls for a fundamental revision of ethics. Jonas points out that ethical reflection is no longer keeping up with the development in a “technological civilization”. The idea is that traditional metaphysical concepts of ethics have been outdated by technical advancements. But what does this mean?

Is the focus of such an argumentation to point out a “technological civilization” as another ontological status, which needs a new ethics on a new ontological level? Or does it mean to renew the conception of ethics for enabling an ethics of technical development by unfolding civilization as an order of responsible interacting?

Zum Gesamttext als PDF: Reconstructing the generationality of ethics