Between vision and image: towards a (phenomenological) anthropology of the image in Hans Jonas

Abstract

In this article, we aim to demonstrate the centrality of the problem of the image in the ontology and philosophical anthropology of Hans Jonas, setting aside the ethical aspects. We will analyze how, based on elements derived from his philosophical biology (characterized as a description of the phenomenon of life), it is possible to understand the centrality of the notion of image in its different implications for the constitution of the difference between human animals and other forms of life. To this end, we aim to demonstrate the central characteristics of what we can call a Phenomenological Anthropology of the Image, constituted from three aspects: [1] the participation of the human animal in the history of freedom, described as the guiding thread for understanding the phenomenon of life in which the relationship between vision and distance is situated; [2] the conception of the image as part of the process of self-constitution of the human being; [3] the image as an element of differentiation of the human animal in relation to other living beings, according to the process of trans-animal continuity of man. Finally, we hope to demonstrate how the image plays a fundamental role both in the context of Jonasian ontobiology (insofar as it bears witness to the freedom inherent to animal forms of life) and in the constitution of his philosophical anthropology (through the concept of trans-animality).