A greater freedom: biotechnology, love, and human destiny (in dialogue with Hans Jonas and Jürgen Habermas)

206 Pages·2014·9.292 MB·English

by  Habermas, Jürgen;Jonas, Hans;Kampowski, Stephan

A Greater Freedom
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A Greater Freedom
ISBN: 9780718841621
C L
A Greater Freedom
Biotechnology, Love, and Human Destiny
In Dialogue with Hans Jonas and Jürgen Habermas
by
Stephan Kampowski
with a foreword by
Stanley Hauerwas
L
The Lutterworth Press
The Lutterworth Press
P.O. Box 60
Cambridge
CB1 2NT
United Kingdom
www.lutterworth.com
[email protected]
ISBN: 978 0 7188 9319 4
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A record is available from the British Library
First published by The Lutterworth Press, 2014
Copyright © Stephan Kampowski, 2013
Published by arrangement
with Pickwick Publications
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge
permission to reprint material from the following sources:
Excerpts from Jürgen Habermas, The Future of Human Nature
(Cambridge, UK: Polity Press 2003). Used by permission of Polity Press.
Excerpts from Hans Jonas, The Phenomenon of Life: Toward a Philosophical
Biology, Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology and Existential
Philosophy (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2001).
Used by permission of Northwestern University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this edition may be reproduced, stored
electronically or in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without prior written permission from the
Publisher ([email protected]).
Contents
Foreword by Stanley Hauerwas vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Freedom, Technology, and Destiny xi
The Context and Procedure of Our Study xv

1
Hans Jonas’ Philosophy of the Organism 1
Toward an Ontology of Life 2
Panvitalism 3
Dualism 4
Idealism and Materialism 7
Jonas’ Attempt at a Solution 10
The Fundamental Characteristics of the Organism 16
Metabolism and Freedom 17
Natural Teleology 22
An Appreciation of The Phenomenon of Life 48
Maintaining the Specific Difference between Humans and
Animals 49
The Possibility of the Soul’s Survival after Death 50
The Ontology of Life and the Problem of Death 52
The Organism and Love 60
2
Jonas’ Philosophy of Responsibility 65
Analysis of the Modern Predicament and Justification for the
Need of a New Ethics 66
The New Categorical Imperative and Its Foundation 69
Logical Coherence? 69
Rights? 70
An “Ontological” Argument 71
v
Contents
Being, Purpose, and Value 73
Responsibility 80
Some Practical Principles of the Ethics of Responsibility 89
The Recognition of Ignorance 89
The Exclusion of the Va-banque Game 90
A Heuristics of Fear 93
Jonas’ Critique of Utopianism 94
The Identification of the Utopian Ideal 95
The Feasibility or Practical Achievability of the Utopian
Ideal 98
The Desirability of the Utopian Ideal 101
Concluding Remarks on Utopia: The “True Human
Being” Is Always There Already 106
An Appreciation of The Imperative of Responsibility 111
The Relation between the Sheer Existence and the Good
Existence of Humanity 112
The Notion of Responsibility 117
3
Jürgen Habermas and Genetic Enhancement:
Jonas’ Contribution to the Contemporary Debate 128
Habermas’ Life and Thought 130
The Basic Argument of The Future of Human Nature 135
Some Presuppositions 136
The Distinction between Therapy and Enhancement 141
Habermas and Jonas: The Question of Domination 144
Genetic Determinism? 145
Habermas and Jonas: Genetic Engineering vs.
Education 147
Dependence as Part of the Human Condition 156
Excursus: The Question of Artificial Procreation 157
Habermas’ Response to Objections 163
Concluding Remarks 168
Conclusion: A Greater Freedom 170
Bibliography 177
vi
Foreword
By Stanley Hauerwas
We live in a time in which many seem determined to use intellectual
power to get out of life alive. Ironically, the fear of death creates a culture
of death, in which those who have means are able to impose their fear of
death onto those who do not have the means to cope with those fears. As
a result, what has been called the technological imperative now seems
to have become a permanent feature of modern life: what can be done
should be done.
We are, therefore, extremely fortunate to have this book by Stephan
Kampowski on the work of Hans Jonas and Jürgen Habermas. By draw-
ing on the work of Jonas and Habermas, Kampowski helps us see that the
technological imperative cannot help but corrupt our humanity because,
with its utopian hopes, it inspires us to live as if we were our own creators.
As a result, we live lives of loneliness.
With extraordinary erudition and philosophical acumen, Kampow-
ski makes the work of Jonas and Habermas available to a wide range of
readers. Given that he is such a faithful expositor of Jonas’ and Habermas’
work, some might be tempted to consider this a book primarily about
these thinkers. It is certainly a wonderful introduction to their philoso-
phy. But to interpret this volume primarily as an introduction to the work
of Jonas and Habermas would do injustice to its significance. What Kam-
powski helps us see is that a philosophical case can be made against the
technological imperative. This is a voice we desperately need.
One of this work’s important contributions is Kampowski’s explana-
tion of how Jonas’ account of the teleological character of the organism
is interrelated with the ethic of responsibility. The argument that life is a
determinative category by which we are able to understand the character
vii
Foreword
of all existence is crucial if we are to recover the limits necessary for shap-
ing our care of one another through the agency of science. Kampowski
provides a wonderful account of Jonas’ understanding of death and how
death rightly should shape our living in order to reveal our perverse ac-
counts of freedom.
One of the virtues of this book is Kampowski’s ability to bring these
thinkers into conversation with one another, but also to bring other
voices into the conversation, the voice of Robert Spaemann in particular.
Spaemann is a philosopher who has done fundamental work from which
we, particularly in the English speaking world, need to learn. Kampow-
ski’s breadth of knowledge of contemporary European philosophical
traditions means he is able to use Spaemann to bring light to both the
strengths and limits of Jonas and Habermas. His suggestion, drawing on
the work of Gerald McKenny, that Jonas’ account of responsibility itself
betrays some utopian desires is extremely important. As a result, Kam-
powski helps us see that the voice of theology has much to contribute if
we are to have an alternative to the culture of death.
This is a book that hopefully will be widely read by Christians and
non-Christians alike. Kampowski’s philosophical analysis of Jonas is one
that no Christian can afford to ignore if we are to speak truthfully to the
world in which we find ourselves.
viii
Acknowledgments
This book is essentially the fruit of the three years that I was allowed
to be a “professore a contratto” at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute in
Rome, a position that entails a relatively light teaching load and provides
the possibility of engaging in a post-doctoral research project.
The bulk of the work, however, was done in the Spring of 2008,
which I spent as a visiting scholar at Duke University in Durham, North
Carolina in the United States. There I had the great privilege of benefit-
ting from the direction and advice of Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, for whose
help I am extremely grateful.
My sincere appreciation also goes to Dr. L. Gregory Jones, the Dean
of Duke Divinity School, for the kind invitation addressed to me and for
making Duke’s wonderful academic resources available to me, and to Dr.
Reinhard Hütter and his family, who have given me great encouragement
and support during my stay at Duke.
I should also like to express my profound gratitude to Mons. Livio
Melina, the President of our Institute, for releasing me from my other
academic responsibilities during the Spring 2008 semester so that I could
take the opportunity of spending this time in North Carolina.
I am indebted to the whole academic community of the John Paul
II Institute for the lively and inspiring exchange of ideas that has oc-
curred throughout these years. In particular I would like to mention Dr.
Stanisław Grygiel, the Director of the Institute’s Cattedra Karol Wojtyła
Research Chair, together with all those participating in the activities
of the Cattedra, and Rev. José Noriega, the then-Vice-President of our
Institute.
Finally, I would like to thank the students of my seminars on Hans
Jonas (Fall 2006) and on Jürgen Habermas (Fall 2007) whose questions
and insights helped my own deeper understanding of these authors.
ix