Hans Jonas, Günther Anders, and the Atomic Priesthood: An Exploration into Ethics, Religion and Technology in the Nuclear Age

Sebastian Musch

doi:10.3390/rel12090741

Abstract

This article investigates the ethical implications of the notion of an Atomic Priesthood, an artificially constructed religion built around the preservation of knowledge related to nuclear-waste storage by using the work of Hans Jonas (1903–1993) and Günther Anders (1902–1992). Building on Jonas’ The Imperative of Responsibility from 1979 and Anders’ The Outdatedness of Human Beings from 1956, this article participates in the debate regarding the ethics of the post-closure marking of nuclear-waste storage sites. Assuming that we have a moral obligation toward future generations, as Jonas argued, even after the nuclear-waste storages have been filled and closed, there remains a need to communicate the danger of these sites to future civilizations to whom our languages and other semiotic systems are incomprehensible. Discussing the hypothetical concept of the Atomic Priesthood, an artificial religion whose central purpose would be to make it taboo to approach certain “impure” sites where our civilization had buried nuclear waste, this article argues that due to the unsolved ethical stakes, technological solutions are unequipped to deal with the long-term ramifications of nuclear power.

Highlights

Building on Jonas’ seminal work The Imperative of Responsibility—Das Prinzip Verantwortung in German—(German edition: Jonas 1979; English translation: Jonas 1984) and Anders’ The Outdatedness of Human Beings Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen in German (German editions: Anders 1987a, no English edition), this article focuses on the entangled interplay of religion and nuclear technology and investigates the ethical stakes arising from this entanglement
Applying Jonas’ complex theoretical constructs to the idea of an artificial religion such as the Atomic Priesthood allows for a discussion of the ethical imperatives that arise when nuclear technology and religion merge
The notion of the Atomic Priesthood is based on the deception of future generations, i.e., lying to them about the purpose of nuclear-waste storage sites and feeding them false information

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Combining the thought experiment Atomic Priesthood with the work and lives of these two philosophers, this article participates in the debate regarding the ethics of the post-closure marking of nuclear-waste storage sites. This debate originated in the nuclear industry during the 1980s, during which the long-term problems arising from nuclear-waste storage were amply discussed, generating the interdisciplinary but small and short-lived field of nuclear semiotics (See: Zeitschrift für Semiotik 1984; Posner 1990). Nuclear waste storage stands at the end of the nuclear production line and will harbor the remnants of both peaceful usage of nuclear energy as well as nuclear weapons They are designed to outlive our civilization, even though this engineering claim is dubious and will give witness of our nuclear age to the future. Building on Jonas’ seminal work The Imperative of Responsibility—Das Prinzip Verantwortung in German—(German edition: Jonas 1979; English translation: Jonas 1984) and Anders’ The Outdatedness of Human Beings Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen in German (German editions: Anders 1987a, no English edition), this article focuses on the entangled interplay of religion and nuclear technology and investigates the ethical stakes arising from this entanglement

Hans Jonas and the Imperative of Responsibility

What Is the Atomic Priesthood?

The Entanglement of Religion and Nuclear Technology

Günther Anders and the Nihilism Syndrome

Discussion