Wartość życia w ujęciu etyki personalistycznej

Abstract

This article first presents the concept of human dignity in the ancient, Mediaeval and contemporary thoughts as well as the contribution of Christianity in this respect. It was noticed that from the times of Kant’s rationalistic formulation of dignity this concept served to formulate not only the individual ethics but the social one as well. It was used to limit totalitarian tendencies of the modern state – leviathan. Human dignity became the fundamental norm of the human rights declaration and state constitutions. Today the principle of life is placed in opposition to the principle of the quality of life. This article stresses that the category of the quality of life cannot be the norm of morality. It must be subordinated to the norm of personalistic acceptance of the person for who he/she is. Thinking in the categories of the value of person’s life is the condition of humanism of contemporary culture including medicine.