Hans Jonas Quotes
Hans Jonas was a German-Jewish philosopher, a student of Husserl, Heidegger, and Bultmann, who emigrated first to Palestine and then to North America. After early work on Gnosticism and the philosophy of life, he turned in his later years to an ethics adequate to the unprecedented powers of modern technology. The quotes below are attributed to Hans Jonas, organized by topic.
Hans Jonas on Nature
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Attributed to Hans Jonas:
“We must henceforth fear humanity itself.”
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Attributed to Hans Jonas:
“The promise of modern technology has turned into a threat.”
Hans Jonas on Virtue
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Attributed to Hans Jonas:
“Act so that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life on earth.”
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Attributed to Hans Jonas:
“Responsibility is the moral complement to the ontological constitution of our temporality.”
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Attributed to Hans Jonas:
“Only an ethic founded in the breadth of being can have meaning in the future.”