The Concept of the Human Person must be at the Heart of all Ethical Inquiries
The concept of the human person must be at the heart of all ethical inquiries
Tomasz Strzebonski
December 7, 2012
1. Introduction: In the search of the source of morality. Over the centuries people were striving for the justification of their deeds. To achieve this goal they created the philosophical systems that included more or less directly stated rules of conduct. All of that systems provided different solutions and answers for the question of what is good and what is evil, and which proceedings are right and which wrong. In answering these questions, they formulated the norms according to which man should proceed, what established completely new field of knowledge - the Ethics. However, to be able to search for those answers, it is necessary to determine what is the basis for further considerations - what is the basis of the Ethics. Should it be love and friendship or maybe fulfillment of needs and pleasure. Despite the passage of time, man was not able to find a clear solution. In the 20th century, with the development of science it was even more difficult. One of the philosophers who proposed to resolve the question of what is the basis of Ethics was Karol Wojtyła. He developed his point of view, based on the Christian vision of the world, where the Person is understood as an image of God, in contrast to the systems that either rejected the need for concept of Person or understood it in a very different way. Wojtyła, living in a time when such currents of thought as Marxism, Leninism and relativism were very popular, witnessed the fact that they did not fulfill their role in the determining of what would constitute the basis of Ethics, because each of them had implications that did not allow to accept them as an objective criterion. In this paper I will provide the reader with some of the systems Wojtyła has referred to, with pointing out their flaws. I will also present his solution and answer to the
Tomasz Strzebonski
December 7, 2012
1. Introduction: In the search of the source of morality. Over the centuries people were striving for the justification of their deeds. To achieve this goal they created the philosophical systems that included more or less directly stated rules of conduct. All of that systems provided different solutions and answers for the question of what is good and what is evil, and which proceedings are right and which wrong. In answering these questions, they formulated the norms according to which man should proceed, what established completely new field of knowledge - the Ethics. However, to be able to search for those answers, it is necessary to determine what is the basis for further considerations - what is the basis of the Ethics. Should it be love and friendship or maybe fulfillment of needs and pleasure. Despite the passage of time, man was not able to find a clear solution. In the 20th century, with the development of science it was even more difficult. One of the philosophers who proposed to resolve the question of what is the basis of Ethics was Karol Wojtyła. He developed his point of view, based on the Christian vision of the world, where the Person is understood as an image of God, in contrast to the systems that either rejected the need for concept of Person or understood it in a very different way. Wojtyła, living in a time when such currents of thought as Marxism, Leninism and relativism were very popular, witnessed the fact that they did not fulfill their role in the determining of what would constitute the basis of Ethics, because each of them had implications that did not allow to accept them as an objective criterion. In this paper I will provide the reader with some of the systems Wojtyła has referred to, with pointing out their flaws. I will also present his solution and answer to the
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