Hans Jonas's critique of Kantian Ethics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61378/enun.v6i1.118Keywords:
Hans Jonas, ethics of the future, criticism of formalism, categorical imperativeAbstract
Hans Jonas proposes a new categorical imperative to guide ethical actions aimed at maintaining humankind's conditions of existence in the future. Although Jonas was inspired by Kant to propose his own imperative, however, the philosopher considers that the Kantian ethical paradigm is not adequate to the actions of humans belonging to technological civilization for the following reasons: Kantian ethics is formalist, it says nothing about the material content concerning the action; Kantian ethics disregards the need for scientific knowledge for ethical action; Kant's ethics concerns only the immediate relations of humans in their spatiotemporal scope; Kant's ethics do not consider the consequences of actions, only the intentions with which the actions are performed. In this article, we will examine each of the reasons mentioned by Jonas in order to analyze the consistency of his criticism of the Prussian philosopher.
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