Biologia filosófica, antropologia e biotecnologia em Hans Jonas

Abstract

This study seeks to analyze three aspects of the philosophy of the German philosopher Hans Jonas: philosophical biology, anthropology, and technology/biotechnology. Our starting point is philosophical biology, as presented in Jonas’ renowned work The Phenomenon of Life (1966), and other related essays. However, among all his writings, The Phenomenon of Life is the work that lays the foundation for what Jonas sought to achieve - his ontologiscgen Überraschung for interpreting the biological phenomenon, resulting in a new ontology of life. This ontology serves as a counterpoint to the ontology of death that became dominant in modernity due to the flawed manner in which life had been interpreted. Since life is the central question of ontology, philosophical reflection on the phenomenon of life must rest on ontological foundations. This is what Jonas pursued in the aforementioned work. He sought to present philosophical biology as a chapter of ontology, an extension and agenda of the philosophy of science. The ontological aspects underpinning philosophical biology become evident after Jonas demonstrated the link between life and freedom, which, according to him, is not extrinsic and nominal (a historical or evolutionary accident), but intrinsic and essential. For, in his understanding, freedom is inherent to all forms of life through the activity of metabolism. Thus, freedom is the hallmark of all forms of life, from the simplest to the most complex. Whereas science and modern philosophy once promoted the separation between humanity and nature, the author's philosophy of the organism in Das Prinzip Verantwortung reintegrates humanity into nature. By reactivating this, Jonas signals that the object of his philosophy is the organic in general, not solely humanity. Humanity can only be understood as such when its biological nature—its animality—is considered, positioning humans as part of nature rather than separate from it. A new anthropology, grounded on the assimilation of philosophical biology, is thus required. The former constitutes a pathway, a chapter or a section of the latter, since no anthropological understanding is possible without biology. Analyzing the anthropological difference or the differentiation of man from other creatures is therefore required. With the evolution of technology, especially its current advances with biotechnology in the frontline, humankind risks endangering itself as a species. The tools, techniques, images, and other human artifacts express anthropological difference and thus should be integrated into the very human nature, since human beings have the power to create and invent them. However, as technological advancements threaten the continuity of their creator—the human being, technology and, more recently, biotechnology pose numerous challenges for thinking about anthropology. To summarize, if since the Neolithic such artifacts can be understood from an anthropological perspective, a clear inversion has occurred today in the relationship between human beings and technology, whereby man is no longer a mere producer and user of tools, but a technological object that can be changed and altered as biotechnology sees fit.