Nature, technological and ethical action: paths for environmental education since Hans Jonas

Abstract

Making environmental issues fundamentally necessary and urgent in these times and tropics, times of massive use – in the last two centuries and especially after World War II – of production technologies, means requiring the existential minimum, i.e., reasonable conditions for good quality of life. The purpose of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, we intend to present the philosophical contribution of Hans Jonas to the ecological issue, on the other hand, we would like to highlight how precisely from this reflection it is possible to acquire adequate awareness, from the promotion of environmental education, environmental risks linked to technological and economic developments. First, we analyze Jonas’s contribution to the redefinition of the concept of nature. Secondly, we try to clarify in what terms and with what consequences, according to Jonas, human nature occupies a central place in the global revision of the concept of nature and manifests itself in terms of a fundamental ethical principle. Finally, let us try to explain what consequences this entails for the protection of the integral ecology.