Princip odgovornosti: pokušaj jedne etike za tehnološku civilizaciju

The book begins with an analysis of the changing nature of human activity in the conditions of modern technology. Technological development has significantly increased the spatial and temporal range of human interventions in the natural environment. This puts the "integrity" of the world and the people themselves in acute danger. Jonas names three areas of risk for the future existence of humanity: 1. the potential for destruction through nuclear technology and nuclear weapons, 2. the unpredictable loss of control through the use of genetic engineering, and 3. the threat of destruction of the biosphere through ruthless exploitation of resources and destruction of nature.

Jonas argues that classical and traditional ethics no longer correspond to these changing conditions. Previously, ethics focused on actions between individuals whose consequences were about to become apparent or would become apparent in the near future. The principle of previous ethics was to concentrate on the immediate area of ​​human responsibility (eg in the maxim of charity). It was not a question of responsibility towards future generations, nor towards foreign and distant cultures, because human work with pre-modern technology did not have such space for action in space and time.

For Jonas, ethics must now also take into account collective action, the consequences of which can only be felt in the distant future. He doesn't just think in terms of years or decades, but much longer periods of time. What you do today may not have consequences until a hundred or more years from now. He also thinks spatially beyond previous ethics. For example, the far too high CO 2 emissions of rich Western countries will also burden people in the so-called “Third World” in the future. With the change in technology, ethics must be expanded from love of neighbor to "love of the farthest".

In this context, Jonas formulates a new ethical imperative, based on Kant, which is also known as the "ecological imperative":

"Act in such a way that the effects of your action are compatible with the permanence of real human life on earth. Or to put it negatively: behave in such a way that the effects of your actions are not destructive to the future possibility of such a life." – The principle of responsibility