Man’s Destiny in Tischner’s Philosophy of Drama

Abstract

One of the most known of Roman Ingarden’s pupils is undoubtedly Józef Tischner (1931–2000), whose anthropological and ethical views, approached from the point of view of man’s destiny, are presented and discussed in the paper. The views are an example of original and creative achievement of Polish contemporary philosophy, stemming out of phenomenology, existentialism and the philosophy of dialogue. Under the influence of the dialogic tradition Tischner began to construct his own philosophy of meeting, which then transformed into the philosophy of drama. In connection with this he worked out his concept of axiological I. Tischner is deeply convinced that the axiological I is self-conscious and its positive worth is absolute. Axiological I is characterised by axiological hunger which means the desire to realise new and still new values in the world which, acoording to Tischner, is man’s main vocation in this world. In connection with axiological I the category of truth and freedom, as understood by Tischner, are presented and analysed. Truth especially seems to be the precondition allowing the integration of a contemporary man, who is disintegrated to a great extent, and therefore badly needs re-integration. As far as the category of freedom is concerned, one cannot speak about freedom in any absolute sense; in this context one should notice that Tischner definitely rejects Sartre’s concept of freedom. Tischner tries to define anew the phenomenon of evil. Evil appears within two contradictory experiences: a threat and a temptation. A threat means a refusal of a right to existence, whereas a temptation takes on a mask of a good. Despite a possible drama of human existence, which may sometimes lead to tragedy, Tischner is convinced that man should strive at being a master of his individual axiological choices, that there is a phenomenon of hope which may help man to overcome his evil; the Polish author thinks that striving at re-integration of man and realisation of numerous values constitute the true destiny of man.