Hans Jonas

Hans Jonas (May 10, 1903 February 5, 1993) was 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.
Jonass writings were very inuential in dierent spheres.
For example, The Gnostic Religion, based on his early research on the Gnosis and rst published in 1958, was for
many years the standard work in English on the subject
of Gnosticism. The Imperative of Responsibility (German
1979, English 1984) centers on social and ethical problems created by technology. Jonas insists that human survival depends on our eorts to care for our planet and
its future. He formulated a new and distinctive supreme
principle of morality: Act so that the eects of your action are compatible with the permanence of genuine human life.
While The Imperative of Responsibility has been credited with catalyzing the environmental movement in Germany, his work The Phenomenon of Life (1966) forms
the philosophical undergirding of one major school of
bioethics in America. Murray Bookchin and Leon Kass
both referred to Hans Jonass work as major, or primary,
inspiration. Heavily inuenced by Martin Heidegger, The
Phenomenon of Life attempts to synthesize the philosophy of matter with the philosophy of mind, producing Birth house of Hans Jonas in Mnchengladbach
a rich existential understanding of biology, which ultimately argues for a simultaneously material and moral
human nature.
His writing on the history of Gnosticism revisits terrain
covered by earlier standard works on the subject such
as Ernesto Buonaiuti's Lo gnosticismo: storia di antiche
lotte religiose (1907), interpreting the religion from an
existentialist philosophical viewpoint. He was one of the
rst philosophers to concern himself with ethical quesIn front of the house, two Stolpersteine were installed in 2008.
tions in biological science.[2]
The left one commemorates the philosophers mother Rosa Jonas,
Jonass career is generally divided into three periods de- murdered in Auschwitz in 1942
ned by his three primary works, but in reverse order:
studies of gnosticism, studies of philosophical biology,
Marburg he met Hannah Arendt, who was also pursuing
and ethical studies.[3]
her PhD there, and the two of them were to remain friends
for the rest of their lives.

Heidegger joined the Nazi Party in 1933, which may have

disturbed Jonas, as he was Jewish and an active Zionist.
Certainly, in 1964 Jonas would repudiate his mentor Heidegger, for his aliation with the Nazis.[5] He left Germany for England in 1933, and from England he moved
to Palestine in 1934. There he met Lore Weiner, to whom
he became betrothed. In 1940 he returned to Europe to
join the British Army which had been arranging a special

Biography

Jonas was born in Mnchengladbach, on May 10, 1903.

He studied philosophy and theology in Freiburg, Berlin
and Heidelberg, and nally achieved his Doctor of Philosophy at Marburg where he studied under Edmund
Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Rudolf Bultmann.[4] In
1

2 WORKS

brigade for German Jews wanting to ght against Hitler

(See The Jewish Brigade). He was sent to Italy, and in the
last phase of the war moved into Germany. Thus, he kept
his promise that he would return only as a soldier in the
victorious army. In this time he wrote several letters to
Lore about philosophy, in particular philosophy of biology, that would form the basis of his later publications on
the subject. They nally married in 1943.

Socioeconomic Knowledge and Ignorance of

Goals

Immediately after the war he returned to Mnchengladbach to search for his mother but found that she had been
sent to the gas chambers in the Auschwitz concentration
camp. Having heard this, he refused to live in Germany
again. He returned to Palestine and took part in Israels
war of independence in 1948. Jonas taught briey at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem before moving to North
America. In 1950 he left for Canada, teaching at Carleton
University. From there he moved in 1955 to New York
City, where he was to live for the rest of his life. He was
a fellow of the Hastings Center and Professor of Philosophy at New School for Social Research from 1955 to 1976
(where he was Alvin Johnson Professor). From 1982 to
1983 Jonas held the Eric Voegelin Visiting Professorship
at the University of Munich.[6] He died at his home in
New Rochelle, N.Y., on February 5, 1993, aged 89.[7]

Contemporary Problems in Ethics from a

Jewish Perspective

Origens Metaphysics of Free Will, Fall, and

Salvation: a 'Divine Comedy' of the Universe.

Works

2.1

English books

The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God

& the Beginnings of Christianity (Boston: Beacon
Press, 1958) ISBN 0-8070-5801-7
The Phenomenon of Life: Toward a Philosophical
Biology (New York, Harper & Row, 1966) OCLC
373876 (Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University
Press, 2001). ISBN 0-8101-1749-5
The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of
Ethics for the Technological Age (trans. of Das
Prinzip Verantwortung) trans. Hans Jonas and David
Herr (1979). ISBN 0-226-40597-4 (University of
Chicago Press, 1984) ISBN 0-226-40596-6
Philosophical Essays: From Ancient Creed to Technological Man (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1974) ISBN 0-226-40591-5

Philosophical Reections on Experimenting

with Human Subjects
Against the Stream: Comments on the Denition and Redenition of Death
Biological EngineeringA Preview

Biological Foundations of Individuality

Spinoza and the Theory of Organism
Sight and Thought: A Review of 'Visual
Thinking.'"
Change and Permanence: On the Possibility
of Understanding History.
The Gnostic Syndrome: Typology of Its
Thought, Imagination, and Mood.
The Hymn of the Pearl: Case Study of a Symbol, and the Claims for a Jewish Origin of
Gnosticism.
Myth and Mysticism: A Study of Objectication and Interiorization in Religious
Thought.

The Soul in Gnosticism and Plotinus.

The Abyss of the Will: Philosophical Meditations on the Seventh Chapter of Pauls Epistle
to the Romans.
Mortality and Morality: A Search for Good After Auschwitz ed. Lawrence Vogel (Evanston, Ill.:
Northwestern University Press, 1996). ISBN 08101-1286-8
With Stuart F Spicker: Organism, medicine, and
metaphysics : essays in honor of Hans Jonas on his
75th birthday, May 10, 1978 ISBN 90-277-0823-1
On faith, reason and responsibility (San Francisco:
Harper and Row, 1978. New edition: Institute
for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate
School, 1981.) ISBN 0-940440-00-8
Memoirs (Brandeis University Press, 2008) ISBN
978-1-58465-639-5

Technology and Responsibility: Reections

on the New Tasks of Ethics, Social Research 2.1.1 English monographs
15 (Spring 1973).
Immortality and the modern temper : the Ingersoll
Jewish and Christian Elements in Philosophy:
lecture, 1961 (Cambridge : Harvard Divinity
their Share in the Emergence of the Modern
School, 1962) OCLC 26072209 (included in The
Mind
Phenomenon of Life)
Seventeenth Century and After: The Mean Heidegger and theology (1964) OCLC 14975064
ing of the Scientic and Technological Revo(included in The Phenomenon of Life)
lution

2.4

Selected papers

Ethical aspects of experimentation with human subjects (Boston:American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1969) OCLC 19884675.

2.2

German

Gnosis und sptantiker Geist (12, 19341954)

Technik, Medizin und Ethik Zur Praxis des
Prinzips Verantwortung Frankfurt a.M. :
Suhrkamp, 1985 ISBN 3-518-38014-1 ('On
technology, medicine and ethics On the practice
of the imperative of Responsibility.' Not translated
into English yet.)
Das Prinzip Verantwortung: Versuch einer Ethik fr
die technologische Zivilisation (Frankfurt am Main :
Insel-Verlag, 1979). ISBN 3-458-04907-X
Erinnerungen. Nach Gesprchen mit Rachel Salamander, ed. Ch. Wiese. Frankfurt am MeinLeipzig: Insel Verlag, 2003.
Macht oder Ohnmacht der Subjektivitt? Das LeibSeele-Problem im Vorfeld des Prinzips Verantwortung. Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1981, and then
Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1987. ISBN 3-45804758-1
Erkenntnis und Verantwortung, Gesprch mit Ingo
Hermann in der Reihe Zeugen des Jahrhunderts,
Edited by I. Hermann. Gttingen: Lamuv, 1991.
Philosophische Untersuchungen und metaphysische
Vermutungen. Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1992, and
then Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1997.
Organismus und Freiheit.
Anstze zu einer
philosophischen Biologie. Gttingen: Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 1973.
Augustin und das paulinische Freiheitsproblem. Ein
philosophischer Beitrag zur Genesis der christlichabendlndischen Freiheitsidee, Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1930. Second edition entitled
Augustin und das paulinische Freiheitsproblem. Eine
philosophische Studie zum pelagianischen Streit, with
an introduction by J. M. Robinson. Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965.

2.3

French

Le concept de Dieu aprs Auschwitz ISBN 2-86930769-1

3
Une thique pour la nature ISBN 2-220-04795-4
With Sylvie Courtine-Denamy: Entre le nant et
l'ternit ISBN 2-7011-1923-5

2.4 Selected papers

The Right to Die. Hastings Center Report 8, no. 4
(1978): 3136.
Straddling the Boundaries of Theory and Practice:
Recombinant DNA Research as a Case of Action in
the Process of Inquiry. In Recombinant DNA: Science, Ethics and Politics, edited by J. Richards, 253
71. New York: Academic Press, 1978.
Toward a Philosophy of Technology. Hastings
Center Report 9 (1979): 3443.
The Heuristics of Fear. In Ethics in an Age of
Pervasive Technology, edited by Melvin Kranzberg,
21321. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1980.
Parallelism and Complementarity: The PsychoPhysical Problem in Spinoza and in the Succession of Niels Bohr. In The Philosophy of Baruch
Spinoza, edited by Richard Kennington, 12130.
Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of the
Americas Press, 1980.
Reections on Technology, Progress and Utopia.
Social Research 48 (1981): 41155.
Technology as a Subject for Ethics. Social Research 49 (1982): 89198.
Is Faith Still Possible? Memories of Rudolf Bultmann and Reections on the Philosophical Aspects of His Work. Harvard Theological Review 75
(1982): 123.
Ontological Grounding of a Political Ethics: On the
Metaphysics of Commitment to the Future of Man.
Graduate Faculty Philosophical Journal 10, no. 1
(1984): 4762.
Ethics and Biogenetic Art. Social Research 52
(1985): 491504.
The Concept of God after Auschwitz: A Jewish
Voice. Journal of Religion 67, no. 1 (1987): 113.

Le Droit de mourir ISBN 2-7436-0104-3

The Consumers Responsibility. In Ecology and

Ethics. A Report from the Melbu conference, 1823
July 1990, edited by Audun 0fsti, 21518. Trondheim: Nordland Akademi for Kunst og Vitenskap,
1992.

With Sabine Cornille and Philippe Ivernel: Pour une

thique du futur ISBN 2-7436-0290-2

The Burden and Blessing of Mortality. Hastings

Center Report 22, no. 1 (1992): 3440.

Evolution et libert ISBN 2-7436-0580-4

5 FURTHER READING
Philosophy at the End of the Century: A Survey
of Its Past and Future. Social Research 61, no. 4
(1994): 81232.

[2] Levy, David J. (2002). Hans Jonas: The Integrity of

Thinking. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-82621384-7.

"Wissenschaft as Personal Experience [brief memoir], The Hastings Center report 32:4 (JulAug
2002): 2735 ISSN 0093-0334

[3] Scodel, Harvey. An interview with Professor Hans

Jonas. Social Research (Summer 2003)

Materialism and the Theory of Organism. University of Toronto Quarterly, 21, 1 (1951): 3952.

2.5

Other papers

Causality and Perception, The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 47, No. 11 (May 25, 1950), pp. 319324
The Nobility of Sight, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Jun.,
1954), pp. 507519. (also in The Phenomenon of
Life)[8]
Immortality and the Modern Temper: The Ingersoll Lecture, 1961 The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Jan., 1962), pp. 120. (also
in The Phenomenon of Life)
The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics, The
Journal of Religion, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Oct., 1962),
pp. 262273.
Myth and Mysticism: A Study of Objectication
and Interiorization in Religious Thought, The Journal of Religion, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Oct., 1969), pp.
315329
Freedom of Scientic Inquiry and the Public Interest, The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 6, No. 4
(Aug., 1976), pp. 1517.

See also
Natural environment
Environmental movement
Ethics of technology
Noocracy
Jewish philosophy

References

[1] Drummond, Ron.

An Orrery in Search of an
Ephemeris. Retrieved 13 January 2013. It was only
when I discovered the Gnostic religious mythology initially from Hans Jonass The Gnostic Religion...that I was
truly moved by a system of belief

[4] Jonas, "Wissenschaft as Personal Experience, The Hastings Center report 32:4 (JulAug 2002), 30.
[5] Hans Jonas, Inuential Philosopher, Is Dead at 89, The
New York Times, Eric Pace, 6 Feb 1993.
[6] The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin: Selected Correspondence, 1950-1984, University of Missouri Press, 2007, p.
168.
[7] Strachan Donnelley Hans Jonas, 19031993 [Obituary],
The Hastings Center Report 23:2 (MarApr 1993), p. 12.
[8] The inuence of Alfred North Whitehead is plain. Cf.
Michel Weber and Will Desmond (eds.). Handbook of
Whiteheadian Process Thought (Frankfurt / Lancaster,
Ontos Verlag, Process Thought X1 & X2, 2008)

5 Further reading
Hans Jonas, "Wissenschaft as Personal Experience
[brief memoir], The Hastings Center report 32:4
(JulAug 2002): 2735 ISSN 0093-0334
Levy, David J. Hans Jonas: The Integrity of Life.
University of Missouri Press, 2002.
Scodel, Harvey. "An interview with Professor Hans
Jonas, Social Research Summer 2003.
Troster, Lawrence. Hans Jonas and the Concept
of God after the Holocaust, Conservative Judaism
(Volume 55:4, Summer 2003)
Strachan Donnelley Hans Jonas, 19031993 [Obituary], The Hastings Center Report 23:2 (MarApr
1993), p. 12.
Eric Pace: "Hans Jonas, Inuential Philosopher, Is
Dead at 89, New York Times (February 6, 1993)
David Kaufmann: "One of Most Relevant Thinkers
Youve Never Heard Of, Forward (Oct 17, 2007)
Stuart F. Spicker, ed. Organism, Medicine and Metaphysics. Essays in Honor of Hans Jonas. Dordrecht:
Reidel, 1978.
Strachan Donnelley (editor), The Legacy of Hans
Jonas, special issue of The Hastings Center Report
25:7 (NovDec 1995). ISSN: 00930334
Leon R. Kass, Appreciating The Phenomenon
of Life, p. 3.
Richard J. Bernstein, Rethinking Responsibility, p. 13.

5
Strachan Donnelley, Bioethical Troubles:
Animal Individuals and Human Organisms,
p. 21.
Lawrence Vogel, Does Environmental Ethics
Need a Metaphysical Grounding?", p. 30.
Christian Schtze, The Political and Intellectual Hans Jonas, p. 40.
Not Compassion Alone: On Euthanasia and
Ethics (interview with Jonas), p. 44.
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson and Christian Wiese, eds.,
The Legacy of Hans Jonas: Judaism and the Phenomenon of Life (Brill, 2008). ISBN 90-04-167226, Table of contents.
Michael Schwartz and Osborne Wiggins, Psychosomatic Medicine and the Philosophy of Life. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2010,
5:2 (21 January 2010). http://www.peh-med.com/
content/5/1/2
Wiese, Christian. The Life and Thought of Hans
Jonas: Jewish Dimensions. Brandeis, 2010.

External links
(German) Hans-Jonas-Center Berlin
Review of Memoirs

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

Hans Jonas Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Jonas?oldid=672574651 Contributors: Michael Hardy, Llywrch, Nixdorf, Docu,
Angela, Robbot, Ly, Gzornenplatz, Ccord, Curtsurly, Sam Hocevar, D6, Rich Farmbrough, Bender235, Cmdrjameson, Nsaa, Ranveig,
A Kit, Zzyzx11, Mandarax, Kbdank71, FAR, Koavf, RussBot, Hede2000, Pigman, Maris stella, Tomisti, Wknight94, Langdell~enwiki,
Lorenzk, SmackBot, Bluebot, OrphanBot, LoveMonkey, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Grumpyyoungman01, Noah Salzman, AxG, Meco,
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lost, Zigzig20s, Mesnenor, Magioladitis, Ltroster, MetsBot, David Eppstein, Misarxist, CommonsDelinker, Consputus, Lkaelin, STBotD,
BOTijo, Pepperpicker, SieBot, Lightmouse, Carole.appel, SamuelTheGhost, 1ForTheMoney, JKeck, Kwork2, Addbot, IdealisticRealist,
LaaknorBot, Wildcursive, Favonian, Woland1234, Lightbot, Zorrobot, Luckas-bot, BigMitchAK, AnomieBOT, Citation bot, Dr Oldekop,
Omnipaedista, FreeKnowledgeCreator, FrescoBot, Artimaean, , Zlatno Pile, Trappist the monk, Kamiel79, RjwilmsiBot, Hansjonas,
ZroBot, Sarakara, Jonke20, Helpful Pixie Bot, Furor Teutonicus, BG19bot, Lawandeconomics1, BombasticBarry, Anthrophilos, VIAFbot,
WilmingMa, Trackteur, KasparBot, Aliensyntax and Anonymous: 52

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