Specyfika natury ludzkiej w aspekcie zdolności do kontemplowania własnej egzystencji

Abstract

Homo sapiens, as one of many biological species, came into existence in evolution progress based on natural selection. That makes him tightly bounded to the world of animals. However, scientifical and philosophical reflection about human being points clearly at exceptionality of his nature. It significantly appears in human ability to contemplate his own existence. The aim of this article is to outline several aspects of this exceptionality. First of all, human is the only living creature which achieved capability of auto-reflection. Although there are some well developed animals aware of their existence, only human “knows that he knows”. Such conclusions are drawn from critical, socio-biological analysis of human-nature theory and evolutionary theory of perception, based on results of etologists’research. Secondly, Homo sapiens also possesses awareness of his existence limitation. It is impossible to explain human nature without reflection about this. Only human experiences the death in two ways: “from the inside”, where death appears to be a natural and biologically explainable phenomenon and “from the outside” – from this perspective, on the one hand, death is horrifying and mysterious, what leads to mutiny and disagreement, but on the other hand, sometimes reveals transcendental aspects of the world. Thirdly, such experiences cause human a question about meaning of actions and existence itself. This question, as T. Bielecki and V. Frankl’s analyses show, is so fundamental and essential that lack of the answer or will to look for it leads to anxiousness, neurosis and frustrations. The fact of asking such questions, as well as negative consequences of fruitless looking for the answer significantly characterizes Homo sapiens and separates him from the world of nature. Discovery and understanding of particular aspects of human nature and pointing out those which distinguish human from “lower” creatures is a proper perspective for discussion on “who the man is”.