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
determined including instance nature scientific taken theory
For a scientific theory of him to be possible, man, including his habits of valuation, has to be taken as determined by causal laws, as an instance and part of nature.
books born excitement found history period sad
To me, it was a sad fate to have been born into a period and a world where everything was in tip-top order, and the only real excitement was to be found in history books and occasionally also in the paper.
bottom divine hands law linked man moral operative power safe source trust values wisdom
The will to set values and the power to make them law are jointly at the bottom of all operative norms. When linked to divine wisdom, this source of moral law is still in safe hands which man can trust.
atheists duties human shown
Our duties and responsibilities as human beings must be shown to be so incontrovertible that even atheists must recognize them. There are ultimate taboos.
ecology excessive exploits human original religion sinners
It was once religion which told us that we are all sinners because of original sin. It is now the ecology of our planet which pronounces us all to be sinners because of the excessive exploits of human inventiveness.
arriving changing doomed failure pace trying
It is a changing world because of the newcomers who keep arriving and who leave us behind. Trying to keep pace with them is doomed to inglorious failure, especially as the pace has quickened so much.
advanced conscious degrees man
If man was the relative of animals, then animals were the relatives of man, and in degrees bearers of that inwardness of which man, the most advanced of their kin, is conscious in himself.
days expected incentive knowledge necessary number time
As to each of us, the knowledge that we are here but briefly and a nonnegotiable limit is set to our expected time may even be necessary as the incentive to number our days and make them count.
age christian consciousness divide past sacred truth
We do violence to the consciousness of a past age when we divide what was indivisible to it: the one sacred truth of the Christian creed.
hazards man stake
Never must the existence or the essence of man as a whole be made a stake in the hazards of action.
common lower theory
Modern theory is about objects lower than man; even stars, being common things, are lower than man.
owe
Being, in the testimony it gives of itself, informs us not only about what it is but also about what we owe it.
affect becomes claim core highest matter ordinary power revelation touches truth unlike
Unlike the interference of ordinary interest, power, or prejudice, which touches philosophy only at its outskirts and becomes at most a matter for philosophical tactics, the claim of revelation to the highest truth touches philosophy at its core and must affect its whole strategy.
compatible effects genuine human life
Act so that the effects of your actions are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life.