Nihilism and the Problem of Future: Biodiversity Destruction As One of the Great Dangers of Technology?

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2017

Advisor

Editor

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu Filozofii UAM

Title alternative

Abstract

Starting from the example of the Amazon, in Brazil, we intend to analyse how technology (mainly in its biotechnological face) appears as a threat to biodiversity, insofar as it acts through a reduction and standardization: technology needs to reduce diversity to something knowable to be able to control and exploit, in view of human necessities. In this sense, according to Hans Jonas, it is necessary to ask about the horizon of the future giving preference to the negative prognosis (fear rather than hope) to avoid that the harmful consequences of nihilism (marked by the absence of criteria capable of guiding technological action) affect life decisively. In this case, the Enhancement project proposed by transhumanism appears as yet another chapter in the history of risks represented by modern technology.

Description

Sponsor

Keywords

biodiversity, biotechnology, nihilism, Hans Jonas

Citation

Ethics in Progress (ISSN 2084-9257). Vol. 8 (2017). No. 1, Art. #9, pp. 147-155. Doi: 10.14746/eip.2017.1.9

Seria

ISBN

ISSN

2084-9257

Title Alternative

Rights Creative Commons

Creative Commons License

Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Biblioteka Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego