ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND THE TRANSANIMAL IN MAN IN THE PHILOSOPHICAL BIOLOGY OF HANS JONAS

Abstract

In this work, some biophilosophical views of Hans Jonas are exposed and contrasted with his anthropology. For Jonas, life distinguishes itself from lifeless matter due to freedom conquered by metabolism. Perception and emotion generate a hiatus between animal impulse and its satisfaction. Animal behavior being the second  degree of freedom. With human beings a new degree of freedom arises, that implies an ontological ‘jump’ characterized by our author as transanimality. This term refers to a new mode of re-appropiation of the world, that puts some distance from a merely biological satisfaction of needs, this mode is ‘useless’ and conducts the subject to find himself and to reflect on his own existence. In this context Jonas examines three specific human signs: tools, images and tombs. Jonas’s anthropology emerges from a particular understanding of living beings and from his enlightening approach to animal behavior. We find Jonas’s approach original and intellectually fruitful. His proposal illuminates modern paleontology, provides criteria in order to judge the degree of development of a given human culture, and gives a solid ground for metaphysical developments.