Pomiędzy „homo sovieticus” a „homo aemulans”

Abstract

In the paper I attempt to answer the question whether some of the ideas of the social movement of “Solidarity” are still valid and important at the time of transformation and in the market society. There were great hopes both for freedom and a better life in Poland among those ideas. In order to describe the ethical values that inspired the “Solidarity” movement I refer to the works of Józef Tischner. He shows that at the heart of these values there is the idea of an elementary human solidarity and care and that this idea has Christian origins. “Homo sovieticus” is an ideal type of a person who, being too passive, is not able to grasp the rules of life in the market society. In contrast to that, I introduce the idea of “homo aemulans” – a person who has both grasped and mastered these rules. With the greatest clarity he sees that it is the social competition that is the source of both well-being and success in the market society. Is there a place for the elementary human solidarity in the life of such a master of the competition? Is he still ready to cooperate with other people? I identify three kinds of threats that can prevent such a person from recognizing the need for human solidarity. All of them stem from the psychological exaggeration of the importance of competition in our lives. What we most urgently need today is the search for a new synthesis between the idea of freedom and the idea of human solidarity. Is philanthropy the only option or could human solidarity be also built into some of the institutions of our society? Tischner’s idea of the need of the reflection on human work is still valid but it has a different meaning today. We should strive to find the way how to square the economic aspects oh human work with its deeper, social and human aspects.