Essais Philosophiques

English summary: Hans Jonass Essais philosophiques are the most multidisciplinary of his works, covering ethics, the philosophy of nature, history, and the philosophy of religion. It also illustrates the path he cut through multiple fields of investigation. His debts to Heidegger and Spinoza are clear, as well as a common denominator for all of his philosophical research: the related concepts of freedom, will, and worth as factors of resistance against the threat of reductionism....
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English summary: Hans Jonass Essais philosophiques are the most multidisciplinary of his works, covering ethics, the philosophy of nature, history, and the philosophy of religion. It also illustrates the path he cut through multiple fields of investigation. His debts to Heidegger and Spinoza are clear, as well as a common denominator for all of his philosophical research: the related concepts of freedom, will, and worth as factors of resistance against the threat of reductionism. French description: De tous les livres de Hans Jonas, ce sont les Essais philosophiques qui ont le caractere le plus multidisciplinaire : ils portent sur l'ethique, la philosophie de la nature, de l'esprit, de l'histoire et la philosophie de la religion... Mais ce recueil n'est pas pour autant eclectique. Car au-dela de la diversite de ses objets, il constitue une remarquable illustration du chemin de pensee que s'est fraye le philosophe a travers des champs d'investigation multiples et apparemment heterogenes. C'est ainsi qu'au fil de textes qui furent publies entre Le Phenomene de la vie et Le principe responsabilite, on retrouve ici la dette du philosophe a l'egard de Heidegger, l'inspiration spinoziste de sa philosophie de la nature, les racines de son ethique de la responsabilite et un commun denominateur de toutes ses recherches philosophiques : les concepts apparentes de liberte, de volonte et de valeur qui animent sa pensee comme autant de facteurs de resistance a la menace du reductionnisme.