Ecology and Pedagogy: On the educational implications of postwar environmental philosophy

Environmentalism, an ethical imperative to preserve and protect nature, has become in the last decade a central ethical, political and pedagogic theme. Against this background, this article focuses on the postwar philosophy of the German-Jewish scholar Hans Jonas (1903-93). It points to Jonas's radical theory of pedagogic responsibility, and to the manner in which this theory advocated conciliation between ecocentric and anthropocentric ecological approaches. The article further shows how this theory was informed by Jonas's theological reflections on a God who is concurrently transcendent and immanent - a God who is both 'exiled' from the world and 'at home' within the world. Jonas's specific approach demonstrates the manner in which theology informs eco-pedagogy; ecological education is thus demonstrated as secular-theological phenomena.