Etyka w ujęciu Józefa M. Bocheńskiego

The notion of ethics has been developed by Bocheński in four areas:

1. Ethics is a normative science regarding human behaviour. Its scientific charac­ter means a „systematic research on a particular part of reality”. In the result of its normativity it „not only describes object but also indicates what this object should be like”. When speaks of human behaviour it „makes research on this set of acts who derive consciously (volunta­rily) from human free will”.

2. Ethics as a normative science makes research and establishes general goal of human activity and then it considers, from the psychological point of view, a nature of human act which should be an act of realisation of a goal. In this way ethics works out the problem of ethical norm, a principle which should be fol­lowed to fulfill human act in order to achieve a goal proper to human being. Additionally, when ethics is grounded in Christian Revelation we may apply the matter of grace as supernatural support from God in fulfilling ethically good hu­man act.

3. „There are two areas of each properly constructed ethics”. The first, in a theo­retical way considers five sets of pro­blems: the general goal of human act, the structure of human act, the problem of moral norms, the theory of character and the subject of God’s grace. The aim of the second area is practical analysis of particular features of human character, we understand them as „steady dispo­sition toward proceeding human act easily and energetic” according to a mo­ral norm.

4. Ethics understood in that way can be atrributed to each human being. Hence, each men should adopt and cultivate in himself all properties and ethical norms. „Each human being should posses entire­ly human and Christian character”.

5. Individual human life shows that a te­acher suppose to be equippped in some properties more than a merchant. For that reason, even there exists unity in ethics in general, we may speak of par­ticular ethics. They consists of general ethics and on that ground they develop further principles in particular domains. In the result there may exist business ethics, academic ethics, ethics of prie­sthood, political ethics and military one.