ANIMAL SOUL AND ANIMAL RIGHTS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (ON)OF HANS JONAS’ PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

In every philosophy and each science dealing with living beings and nature, thequestion of survival is inevitable. This question represents also a trial for every theory of lifeand nature. However, not all answers to that question are direct and extensive, especially whenthe ethical implications of those theories are concerned. This is also basically valid for the HansJonas’ case, regardless of the fact that his philosophy, brought about on the crossroads of metaphysics,ontology, biology, ethics and politics, is signifi cant for contemporary discussions onmoral status of animals and animal rights. Nevertheless, there are only few explicit reports onthis subject in Jonas’ opus. Therefore, the intent of this paper is to try and reconstruct a jonasian“zoo ethics” based upon Jonas’ texts. Accordingly, the fi rst part of this lecture will be dealingwith setting up a draft of Jonas’ philosophy of biology, with his notion of “animal soul” especiallyscrutinized. The second part of the lecture will inspect those elements of Jonas’ ethics whichjustify the interpretation of his work in a zoo-ethical and bioethical key.