Hans Jonas
Hans Jonas
Hans Jonaswas a German-born philosopher, from 1955 to 1976 the Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth10 May 1903
CountryGermany
assess criterion evaluate human imperative responsibility
Responsibility has become the fundamental imperative in modern civilization, and it should be an unavoidable criterion to assess and evaluate human actions, including, in a special way, development activities.
arrival heavenly last planet religion threatened tortured
It was once religion which threatened us with a last judgment at the end of days. It is now our tortured planet which predicts the arrival of such a day without any heavenly intervention.
cannot either enduring living losing physical price seriously therefore thus truth whatever wish
The simple truth of our finiteness is that we could, by whatever means, go on interminably only at the price of either losing the past and, therewith, our identity, or living only in the past and therefore without a real present. We cannot seriously wish either and thus not a physical enduring at that price.
alone death facing man nature objective true truly
That nature does not care, one way or the other, is the true abyss. That only man cares, in his finitude facing nothing but death, alone with his contingency and the objective meaninglessness of his projecting meanings, is a truly unprecedented situation.
absolutely god good tolerate
Only a completely unintelligible God can be said to be absolutely good and absolutely powerful yet tolerate the world as it is.
heed latest lest mount mute perish powers revelation sermon themselves
The latest revelation - from no Mount Sinai, Sermon on the Mount or Bo tree - is the outcry of mute things themselves that we must heed by curbing our powers over creation, lest we perish together on a wasteland of what that creation once was.
almost alone contained jewish judaism mind original separate simply themselves western
Judaism and Christianity in themselves are distinctly separate entities, to be sure; but when considering their influence on Western thought, we must bear in mind that Christianity alone, or almost alone, transmitted the Jewish share, simply by what it contained of it in its own, original constitution.
believe needs
We need wisdom the most when we believe in it the least.
men blind select
Blind nature will nearly always select the most probable, but man can let the most improbable become actual.