Paolo Becchi

The essay traces some of the decisive stages that have characterized, in modern times, the genesis and development of the idea of Europe, leading up to a critical interrogation of today’s European Union, analyzed from the point of view of the great European cultural season. In the essay the author employs the expression “European coup” in reference to the single currency and throws into sharp relief all the aporias and contradictions connected with it and made possible by the “European treaties”.

In Italien erlangte Hans Jonas, ähnlich wie in andersen Ländern, öffentliche Anerkennung dank seines Werks Das Prinzip Verantwortung, das 1990 ins Italienische übersetzt wurde. Die Übersetzung weckte das Interesse einer breiten Öffentlichkeit sowohl an seinem bioethischen Ansatz als auch an seinen früheren philosophisch-biologischen Schriften. Die Besonderheit des italienischen Kontexts besteht jedoch darin, dass der Philosoph in der akademischen Welt bereits lange vor seiner eingangs erwähnten allgemeinen Anerkennung und ›Entdeckung‹ in der Öffentlichkeit durch seine Arbeiten über die spätantike Gnosis gut bekannt war.

In this paper we offer an overall account of the complex and multilayered Italian reception of Hans Jonas’ philosophy, with an eye to its specific features compared to what happened elsewhere. After an introductory foreword the paper is structured in four sections and a brief conclusion, each of which deals with a peculiar aspect of Jonas’ thought: ethics and bioethics, philosophical biology and ontology of life, gnostic and religious studies, studies in the history of philosophy. In the final section we sum up the overall meaning of the «Wirkungsgeschichte» of Jonas’ philosophy in Italy and highlight possible lines of research still to be accomplished.

Die Wurde des Menschen wird oft in einen direkten Zusammenhang mit Autonomie gestellt: Wurde werde geachtet und geschutzt, indem man den Anderen in seiner freien Selbstbestimmung agieren und ihn seine selbstgesetzten Ziele verwirklichen lasse. Wenn man als Postulat der Wurde ausgibt, der andere durfe nicht zum blossen Objekt gemacht und vollstandig instrumentalisiert werden und er musse in seiner Selbstachtung geschutzt werden, ist meist dieser Bezug zur Autonomie hergestellt. Dennoch wird zu recht darauf hingewiesen, dass gerade Personen, die ihr Leben nicht selbst bestimmen konnen, wie geistig schwerstbehinderte Menschen oder Kleinkinder, im Hinblick auf ihre Menschenwurde als ganz besonders schutzbedurftig gelten. Eine den Begriff der Wurde ausschliesslich auf die Sicherung von Autonomie grundende Sicht gerat zudem insbesondere dort in Schwierigkeiten, wo Ethik und Recht auch die Wurde von Tieren oder Pflanzen zum Gegenstand haben, wie etwa im Schutz einer "Wurde der Kreatur" in der Schweizer Bundesverfassung. Die Autoren des Bandes suchen das schwierige Verhaltnis von Wurde und Autonomie klarer zu bestimmen und fragen nach einem moglichen Gehalt von Wurde im Zusammenhang von sowie jenseits von Autonomie.

According to Hans Jonas (1903–1993), the modern technological progress endowed humanity with wondrous power, which in the long run risks altering the nature of human action. This is especially true for the realm of collective action, the effects of which evidence an unpredicted issue: the ecological crisis, which is the “critical vulnerability” of nature to technological intervention. This discovery brings to light that the whole biosphere of the planet has been added to that which human beings must be responsible for because of their power over it. There is, however, a further dimension of vulnerability (and responsibility) to be considered, namely the one which characterizes organic life as such. Indeed, the essence of all living organisms–human beings included–is characterized by vulnerability, given their precarious and unstable condition of “needful freedom” towards the environment. Nevertheless, terrestrial life fl ourished through a multifaceted and unplanned (thus, again, vulnerable) evolution of living forms, ranging from bacteria to human beings – these evidencing a unique degree of freedom, which Jonas refers to as a “metaphysical gap” towards other living beings. The problem is that the present-day technology provides the possibility to manipulate the very essence of life and human nature. Is this process to be accepted and accomplished? And what about the related risks? Indeed, according to Jonas, issues such as genetic manipulation, euthanasia, organ transplantation, assisted reproduction, exploitation of other living beings etc., raise ethical dilemmas which can be addressed thanks to the idea of vulnerability.

The article deals with present day challenges related to the employ of technology in order to reduce the exposition of the human being to the risks and vulnerability of his or her existential condition. According to certain transhumanist and posthumanist thinkers, as well as some supporters of human enhancement, essential features of the human being, such as vulnerability and mortality, ought to be thoroughly overcome. The aim of this article is twofold: on the one hand, we wish to carry out an enquiry into the ontological and ethical thinking of Hans Jonas, who was among the first to address these very issues with great critical insight; on the other hand, we endeavour to highlight the relevance of Jonas’ reflections to current challenges related to bioscience and biotechnological progress. In this regard, we believe that the transcendent and metaphysical relevance of the «image of man» introduced by Jonas is of paramount importance to understand his criticism against those attempts to ameliorate the human being by endangering his or her essence.

Jonas beginnt seine Gedanken zur Sterbehilfe mit der grundsätzlichen Frage, ob es sinnvoll ist, von einem »Recht zu sterben« zu sprechen, wo doch das bedeutendste und grundlegendste aller Rechte gerade das Gegenteil schützt, denn das »Recht zu leben« ist der »Keim aller Rechtsordnung«. Sein einschlägiger Beitrag zu diesem Problem mit dem Titel: »Techniken des Todesaufschubs und das Recht zu sterben«, erschien erstmals 1978 in englischer Sprache unter der Überschrift »The Right to Die«, 1985 dann auf Deutsch.

In this paper the author tries to approach the subject of death from a law and ethics perspective. The idea is that modern works in law and ethics that have studied two of the main topics of bio-ethics (euthanasia and organ transplants) still leave unresolved two main problems. The first problem is with the idea many authors have of defending the possibility of active euthanasia and consider it an obvious matter that doctors have to practice this type of euthanasia. But we have good reasons to consider that doctors are the ones that have to abstain from this practice. The second is- sue is with the defense of the possibility of post mortem transplants and how this practice is also considered obvious due to the fact that the person from whom these organs are withdrawn is dead. Here we also have good reasons according to the author for considering that the person from whom these organs are withdrawn is not dead. The author finally tries to establish a link between these two unresolved problems.Resumen:En las siguientes páginas el autor intenta un acercamiento a la cuestión de la muerte desde una perspectiva ética y jurídica. La idea fundamental que guía este trabajo es que la ética y el derecho modernos que se han ocupado de los dos temas bioéticos cruciales relativos al fin de la vida (la eutanasia y el trasplante de órganos) hace que surjan dos problemas de fondo que comúnmente se consideran resueltos y que, de acuerdo con el autor, no lo están. El primero es que algunos estudiosos sostienen la licitud de la eutanasia activa y consideran del todo obvio que sea el médico quien la lleve a cabo. Sin embargo, existen buenas razones para considerar que es precisamente el médico quien debería abstenerse de practicar- la. El segundo es que hay otros que sostienen la licitud de los trasplantes post mortem y consideran también obvio que el sujeto del cual se toman los órganos sea ya un cadáver. En cambio existen buenas razones para considerar que actualmente cuando toman dichos órganos aún no están muertos. El autor sostiene que si así fuera, el tema de los tras- plantes presentaría un insospechado punto de contacto con el de la eutanasia. El desarrollo del trabajo, en primer lugar se detiene en el problema de la eutanasia, posteriormente en el del trasplante de órganos donde se busca finalmente evidenciar el punto de contacto entre las dos problemáticas.

This handbook provides a systematic overview of the legal concept and the meaning of human dignity for each European state and the European Union. For each of these 43 countries and the EU, it scrutinizes three main aspects: the constitution, legislation, and application of law. The book addresses and presents answers to important questions relating to the concept of human dignity. These questions include the following: What is the meaning of human dignity? What is the legal status of the respective human dignity norms? Are human dignity norms of a programmatic nature, or do they establish an individual right which can be invoked before court? Is human dignity inviolable? The volume answers these questions from the perspectives of all European countries. As a reaction to the barbaric events during World War II, human dignity found its way into international law. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” The starting point for developing the concept on a national level was the codification of human dignity in article 1, paragraph 1 of the German Grundgesetz. Consequently, the concept of human dignity spread throughout Europe and, in the context of human rights, became a fundamental legal concept.

This contribution gives an overview of the introduction and development of the idea of human dignity by means of historical and conceptual reconstruction. The development of the term began in antiquity and Christianity as an incentive for asserting the universalist dimension to human dignity, particularly with regard to the listing in the USA and France in the eighteenth century. There is also a focus on the post-Second World War debate, where the human dignity was developed into a kind of basic norm known primarily through the German definition of the inviolability of dignity. This is compared with the alternative concept in the Italian Constitution. Afterwards the new approaches from the second half of the twentieth century are discussed and combined with names like Bloch, Maihofer or Luhmann. An interim result determines the new opinion that arose. Special emphasis will be placed on the emergence of human dignity in the various conventions and charters in the twentieth century from the European Convention on Human Rights to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, passing through the Oviedo Convention. Subsequently, questions regarding the autonomy and its limits, especially under the perspective of safeguarding the image of man, for example, with regard to other species and the question of ‘speciesism’ will be discussed. Finally the question of crucial issues within medical ethics, especially the example of euthanasia, will be discussed.