Hans Jonas' "Toward a Philosophy of Technology"

This essay examines ways in which new technologies change our status as ethical agents. What is the status of ideas like "responsibility" in a world automated and routinized by devices of every kind. Do we have an obligation to understand the workings of those devices? If not, can we still think of ourselves as free agents, even if we are dependent on, parasitic upon, a world that remains mysterious to us? This essay points to other moments of great technological change and tries to assess the shape of ethical life inaugurated by those changes. And though written some years before the great changes currently upon us, the essay should help us think about how we might respond to our challenge of the current moment. Teachers joining us for our online seminar will discuss the text in a small, interactive class led by St. John’s faculty. The seminar will be followed by a discussion about ways in which what has been learned and discussed might be integrated into your own classrooms.