Reason. Good. Evil

The publication presents the issues of philosophical anthropology fundamental for Leszek Kołakowski's interests, which attempt not only at finding answers but also asking questions about the condition of human nature, the constitutive conditions for human existence in the transcendental dimension, the essence of tensions and conflicts that may pose a threat to the survival of the European civilization, and, finally, questions about whether there are orientation marks and points of support that constitute the necessary conditions for its further existence and development. This area of concern places the human being at the heart of the matter as a causal being - taking action and endowed with freedom of will which presupposes the ability to do good and evil. Understood in this dimension, exceeding the features of zoological species, participates in the moral and cognitive sphere, in the sphere of unconditional moral imperatives, which cannot be empirically determined. Humanity transcends the properties of nature and is not defined by specific determinants that distinguish it from other species. Therefore, manhood is a moral notion, an attempt to make an endless intellectual effort to marginalize the natural instincts in order to convince people that the man is a moral being, a self-contained goal, not a means.