As much as the advance of science and technology lies at the root of decisive victories in the pursuit of better social conditions, it is impossible not to recognize the growing threat that knowledge and its practical applications represent not only to human societies, but also to life as a whole. Today, our capacity to intervene in nature is much greater than our ability of making minimally reliable predictions of the results of such intervention. For Hans Jonas, this contrast can only be addressed on the basis of ethical demand that he synthesizes in the Imperative of Responsibility, grounded on the heuristics of fear. Resorting to a critical approach to the dualism that characterizes Western culture and separates matter and spirit, body and mind, nature and society, Jonas rejects the idea that a social organization focused explicitly on the satisfaction of human needs (not on profit) abrogates the need to reflect specifically on the threats stemming from the autonomous expansion of science and technology. This work, in addition to exposing the foundations of the dualism studied by Jonas, seeks to show that his concerns are not addressed by an eventual adoption of the precautionary principle, and portrays in the end two areas (biology and geoengineering) where the application of his philosophy of technology can be particularly relevant.
ve of Responsibility; Precautionary principle; Science and Technology; Risk; Uncertainty; Dualism