Hanso Jono Socialinė Etika: Atsakomybės Principas
Social Ethics of Hans Jonas: the responsibility principle

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the ethics of responsibility by Hans Jonas which is characterized by the author as a draft for the ethics of technological civilization. The responsibility ethics is supposed to be a synthesis of philosophy, theology, science and metaphysics. The slogan – Humankind has to survive! – is its imperative. Contemporary civilization, marked by the syndrome of technology, grants the mastery for homo faber. He is free of manipulating with external objects as well as with the inside structure of homo sapiens. The interference of homo faber into human nature deprives morality off its universality and autonomy. Progress of technology devaluates nature and causes nihilism and vacuum in place of morality. These factors urged Jonas to choose responsibility as the first principle of new ethics; responsibility which encompass not only human beings but also science, technology, and nature. He underlined the personal moral responsibility of scientist for the practical implementation of his discoveries and inventions. According to Jonas, the new ethics is not a science of morality; it is an instruction of giving future to humankind.

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