Autonomy as Self-transcendence in Truth: On the Ethics Rooted in the Lived Experience of History and of the Eternal Truths

Ks. Ryszard MOŃ

Katedra Antropologii Filozoficznej i Etyki, Instytut Filozofii Chrześcijańskiej, Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Warszawie, ul. Dewajtis 3, 01-815 Warszawa, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The article addresses one of the most important aspects of the ethics developed by Tadeusz Styczeń, namely, that of the interdependence of freedom and truth, discussing also the related issue of identity and self-transcendence. First, the author describes seven areas of the debate initiated either by Styczeń himself or by his adversaries, at the same time showing his ethics as grounded in the lived experience of both history and the eternal truths. Next, the author presents a distinction, proposed by Styczeń, between two ways of discovering truth: by external cognition and by an act of conscience, where acknowledging truth is tantamount to the subject’s self-affirmation. Styczeń argued that truth, once it is known, must be acted upon by a person and thus acknowledged by her in particular situations of her life. Remaining faithful to the Aristotelian and Thomistic tradition, Styczeń explored ‘particular’ truths found in current existential contexts and attested to in an actual persons’ lives. He described the human being as an individual who exists but in a relation to society and not merely as a thinking and knowing subject, separated from others. In Styczeń’s view, the experience of personhood is the starting point for the search for truth and goodness. The concluding part of the text focuses on the influence of Styczeń’s ideas on Polish and international intellectual milieus and on an analysis of his diagnosis of the crisis of the European thought.

Keywords:

truth, freedom, identity, transcendence, polemics, influence/impact