Ethical System of Tadeusz Kotarbiński

Abstract

The article analyzes the ethical system of the Polish philosopher Tadeusz Kotarbińsky. It ex­amines its neopositivistic sources (the desire to overcome religion and metaphysics, an ap­peal to moral feelings and intuition) and biblical foundations (ethics of pity). The main char­acteristics of independent ethics (universalism, practical realism, minimalism, consistency, reliance on moral creativity) are revealed. The author questions the declared independence of Kotarbińsky’s ethics, believing that the conscience, which is central to his ethical system, is formed in the process of upbringing, internalizing actions, opinions, and evaluations of people who are dependent on a certain worldview. He also considers practical realism, which offers to fight evil rather than strive for good to be a controversial principle. The practical implementation of such an ideal would most likely lead to minimizing a per­son’s spiritual needs, leveling big ambitions and hampering spiritual development. Never­theless, the author believes that the ethics of Kotarbińsky has serious advantages in the pro­fessional and applied fields where a person has to protect dependent people – pedagogy, social work, nursing. The principles of Kotarbińsky’s independent ethics, which in fact rep­resent a moral education program, could add meaning to a secular school ethics project. Fi­nally, the ideas of practical realism can be used in environmental ethics, where the principles of Kotarbińsky seem to be much more promising than the principles of utilitarianism pre­vailing today in the system of human-nature relations. The author concludes that indepen­dent ethics can make a significant contribution to contemporary disputes about univer­sality and situationality, negative and positive ethics, external authority and individual moral creativity.