Tibaldeo, Roberto FranziniNowak, Ewa2016-07-082016-07-082015Filozofia Publiczna i Edukacja Demokratyczna, 2015, Tom 4, Nr 1, pp. 68-86.2299-1875http://hdl.handle.net/10593/14792The paper assumes that fear presents a certain degree of ambivalence. To say it with Hans Jonas (1903-1993), fear is not only a negative emotion, but may teach us something very important: we recognize what is relevant when we perceive that it is at stake. Under this respect, fear may be assumed as a guide to responsibility, a virtue that is becoming increasingly important, because of the role played by human technology in the current ecological crisis. Secondly, fear and responsibility concern both dimensions of human action: private-individual and publiccollective. What the ‘heuristics of fear’ teaches us, is to become aware of a deeper ambivalence, namely the one which characterizes as such human freedom, which may aim to good or bad, to self-preservation or self-destruction. Any public discussion concerning political or economic issues related with human action (at an individual or collective level) ought not to leave this essential idea out of consideration.polinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessResponsibilityheuristics of feartechnological risksHans JonasArtykułhttps://doi.org/10.14746/fped.2015.4.1.4