An outline of the concept of duty in the ethics of Karol Wojtyła and Max Scheler

Abstract

On the basis of the analysis of the text of Karol Wojtyła’s habilitation dissertation, and the concept of ethics by Max Scheler reconstructed in the text, the understanding of duty („ought”, das Sollen) in both authors is presented, and the need to introduce duty into the system of ethics is discussed. Scheler’s phenomenological approach focuses on the feeling of moral values, which are legitimized by moral improvement and, at the same time, excluded by duty. Wojtyła’s Catholic personalism requires the realization of values in act, and hence translating them into duty. Types of duty communication in the form of commandments and evangelical counsels are discussed, which does not limit the freedom of the will. Wojtyła’s arguments against the Schelerian system from the standpoint of the Christian ethics are presented, exposing the morality of human efficacy, in which the key role is played by the objectification of values and the participation of conscience.