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A Defence of Hans Jonas' Critique of Modernity and Ethic Of A Defence of Hans Jonas’ Critique of Modernity and Ethic of Responsibility Submitted by Lewis David Coyne to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology, Philosophy, and Anthropology, in January 2018. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: [1] Abstract The present thesis is an original interpretation and qualified defence of Hans Jonas’ philosophy. Jonas’ thought constitutes a system, the purpose of which, I argue, is to rectify modernity’s most critical ills: nihilism, the ecological crisis, and the threats to human dignity posed by certain biotechnologies. While these might at first appear disparate, Jonas shows that they are in fact interconnected: all originated in the anti-Aristotelian turn taken by Western thought in the sixteenth century – a theoretical event Jonas seeks to overcome by synthesising Heidegger’s existentialism, Kant’s ethics, and Aristotle’s ontology. Previous commentators have tended to downplay Aristotle’s influence on Jonas’ system, and so I emphasise this aspect of his work. I argue that Jonas’ project is largely successful but fails in two key respects. Whilst he is able to develop a neo-Aristotelian ontology and a ‘biogenic’ axiology, his Kantian moral philosophy does not attain the sought- after objective status, while his political theory – as presented in The Imperative of Responsibility – is largely unpalatable. Jonas is, therefore, both unable to defeat nihilism and give his ethic a satisfactory political expression. As such, I uphold Jonas’ theory of responsibility on relativistic virtue ethical grounds, and argue that its implications for bioethics and environmental ethics remain of great significance. Finally, I attempt to bolster Jonas’ reputation as a political theorist by highlighting moments in his post-Imperative work which indicate that he was moving towards a republican conception of citizenship and the state, thus far overlooked by commentators. With his system so corrected, Jonas stands out as one of the most profound philosophers of the post-War period, and a valuable guide for understanding and tackling the crises of the present century. [2] Contents Abstract 1 Contents 2 Acknowledgements 7 Author’s Declaration 8 Introduction: Nihilism and Modernity 9 I. The Nature of Jonas’ Philosophical Project 9 II. Ancient Gnosticism, Modern Nihilism 13 III. The Technological Threats 17 IV. Against the Stream: Jonas’ Philosophical System 20 Chapter One: The Technological Age 26 I. Heidegger’s Spectre 26 II. From Homo Sapiens to Homo Faber 27 III. The Scientific Revolution 29 (α) The Origin of Modern Technology 29 (β) Heidegger’s Seinsgeschichte 32 IV. The Forward March of Technology 35 (α) Technological Autonomy 36 (β) Hegemony and Agency 38 V. The Risk of Utopianism 42 (α) The Baconian Ideal 43 (β) The Reality of Baconianism 46 [3] VI. Post-Humanist Philosophies of Technology 48 VII. From Technology to Ethics 54 Chapter Two: Philosophical Biology and Anthropology 56 I. Ontology as a Ground for Ethics 56 II. Dualism, Materialism, Integral Monism 57 III. Heidegger’s Existentialism 62 IV. The Philosophy of Life 66 (α) Self-Organisation 68 (β) Behaviour 71 (γ) The Nisus of Being 73 V. The Scala Naturae: Plants and Animals 76 (α) Plant Life 77 (β) Animal Life 77 VI. The Scala Naturae: Humans 82 VII. Criticisms of Jonas’ Phenomenology 88 (α) Renaud Barbaras on Movement 88 (β) Andrew T. Johnson on Existential Differences 90 (γ) Revising the Scala Naturae 91 VIII. Post-Modern Ontology 95 Chapter Three: Teleology, Value, and the Good 97 I. Moral Patients 97 II. The Axiological Dimension of Teleology 100 (α) Behaviour 100 [4] (β) Self-Organisation 103 (γ) The Organism as End-in-Itself 104 III. Greater Goods? 107 (α) Species 107 (β) The Biosphere 111 IV. From Goods to the Good 115 V. Moral Traditions 119 (α) Hermeneutics and Finitude 120 (β) Sentiment and Custom 123 VI. Post-Modern Virtue Ethics 126 (α) The Good in Symbolic Being 128 (β) The Good in Organismic Being 130 VII. From Virtue to Responsibility 133 Chapter Four: New Dimensions of Responsibility 135 I. Old and New Ethics 135 II. The Problem of the Future 139 III. The Imperative of Responsibility 144 (α) The Formal Aspects of Responsibility 145 (β) Responsibility for the ‘Idea of Man’ 149 IV. Future Generations and Global Ethics 155 V. Duties to Non-Human Life 160 (α) Anthropocentrism and Biocentrism 161 (β) Dignity and Integrity 163 [5] VI. Morality and Human Dignity 166 VII. A Future for Life on Earth 170 Chapter Five: The Politics of Nature 173 I. From Principle to Practice 173 II. The Nature of Politics 175 III. New Rules for Action 177 (α) The Heuristic of Fear 177 (β) The Precautionary Principle 179 IV. Farewell to Utopia 184 V. The Statesman and Tyranny 186 VI. Rival Interpretations of Jonas’ Politics 194 (α) Dinneen’s Heuristic Reading 194 (β) Wolin’s Vitalist Reading 197 VII. The Civic Republican Alternative 199 (α) Freedom as Non-Domination 200 (β) The Institutions of Freedom 203 VIII. Responsible Freedom 207 Chapter Six: Bioethics and the ‘Idea of Man’ 209 I. Responsibility for Human Dignity 209 II. Human Beings as Means 214 III. The Threshold of Life and Death 221 (α) Organ Harvesting 221 [6] (β) Dying with Dignity? 226 (γ) Abortion, Taboo, and Infanticide 228 IV. The Biotechnological Revolution 234 (α) Plants, Animals, and Non-Personal Dignity 235 (β) The Future of the Human Condition 241 (γ) Transhumanism and L’Homme Machine 249 V. A Richer Bioethics 257 Conclusion: Humanity, the Shepherd of Beings 259 I. Criticisms of Jonas’ Philosophical System 259 (α) Baconianism and Crypto-Christianity 259 (β) Jonas’ Metaethics and Politics 261 II. Finitude and Transcendence 263 Bibliography 265 (α) Works by Jonas 265 (β) Other Cited Works 271 Word Count 301 [7] Acknowledgements I would first of all like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council. Their financial support has allowed me to undertake the M.Res. and Ph.D. degrees which have culminated in the present thesis, while the staff at the ESRC’s South West Doctoral Training Partnership have been consistently helpful and encouraging. My foremost intellectual debt is to Prof. Michael Hauskeller, whose guidance in many areas has made the previous four years rewarding throughout. Were it not for Michael’s continual support, deep knowledge of ethics and the history of philosophy, and his offers of collaboration on various side-projects, I would not have achieved half as much during this time. I am particularly grateful for being able to participate in his Doktorandenseminaren, from which I have learned a great deal, and for his invitation to help organise and edit the proceedings of the 2016 Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference. Any project of this duration benefits from the input of countless people, too many to name individually. Particular thanks, however, are due to: Owen Abbott, Jack Griffiths, Jacob Lucas, and Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes for many thought-provoking conversations over pints at The Imperial; my colleagues at the South West Doctoral Training Partnership, Bristol, for their brilliant company; my fellow Jonasians, Roberto Franzini Tibaldeo and Jelson Roberto de Oliveira, for inviting me to participate at events in Louvain-la-Neuve and Curitiba, respectively; Dr Brigitte Parakenings, curator of the Philosophisches Archiv of the Universität Konstanz, for her help in accessing Jonas’ papers; and my other supervisors and upgrade panel at Exeter – Dr Edward Skidelsky, Prof. Susan Kelly, Dr Shane Glackin, and Prof. Lenny Moss – for their assistance. On a personal note, I am lucky to have wonderful in-laws, the friendship of the Bedford boys, and a loving family who have supported my philosophical endeavours. My heartfelt thanks to you all. Finally, my deepest gratitude is to Beccy: my partner at the beginning of the Ph.D., now my wife, and to whom I owe everything. This work is dedicated to her. [8] Author’s Declaration Chapter One contains heavily revised material previously included in my dissertation ‘Hans Jonas’ Critique of Modern Technology: Power, Risk, and Responsibility’, submitted in partial fulfilment of a Master of Research degree at the University of Exeter in 2014. This is in accordance with Point 2.1, Chapter 11, of the University of Exeter’s Postgraduate Research Handbook. A substantial part of Chapter Two has been published as: Coyne, L. (2017) ‘Phenomenology and Teleology: Hans Jonas’s Philosophy of Life’, Environmental Values, 26(3), pp.297-315. [9] Introduction: Nihilism and Modernity I. The Nature of Jonas’ Philosophical Project Hans Jonas (1903-1993) is little known in the English-speaking world, despite having had a significant influence on continental European environmentalism in the 1980s and 1990s.1 His philosophy is here interpreted as a unified metaphysics, ethics, and politics, following in the German tradition of system- builders. The purpose of this philosophical project is practical, intended to confront the following ills of modernity: nihilism, the ecological crisis, and the biotechnological revolution. At first glance these might appear to be disparate issues. Jonas shows us, however, that they are in fact very much connected, following from the materialist, anti-Aristotelian turn taken by Western thought in the sixteenth century. Overcoming these crises – so I will argue – requires a retrieval, where possible, of the Aristotelian heritage. Although Jonas did not conceive of his work in this way, I believe it is this effort which fundamentally motivates it.2 We shall see that for both its depth and foresight Jonas’ thought is more relevant today than ever.
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