title: [The tragic doubt].
abstract: Starting with two statements made by two great artists and witnesses of the XXth century - Joseph Brodsky and the Polish poet, Tadeusz Rozewicz - the author discusses the roots of our current moral crisis to which we ourselves bear witness: in the unchecked population explosion (Brodsky), and in the sinister legacy of World War II, the effects of which we witness on a daily basis (Rozewicz). The author recalls a third witness: Czeslaw Milosz, who wrote that the world's progress exhibits an inevitable tendency toward nihilism. In his discourse with the three statements mentioned, the author refers to certain XXth century intellectuals - Ortega y Gasset, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Mircea Eliade, Herbert Read - who confirm and develop the thesis of man s spiritual fall and rejection of transcendence through technology. The author further illustrates his thesis with examples taken from the scientific research concerning IT, cloning, euthanasia, as well as from the world of the arts from the apocalyptic works of Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder to the latest performers. He invokes a worldview which, by rejecting the metaphysics of man s birth, aging, and death, also rejects the judeo-christian taboo of the human body as a "dwelling place for the spirit" (porno festivals, exhibitions of human corpses by Prof. von Hagens in Germany).
authors.affiliation: Ul. Kollataja 4/2, 65-080 Bydgoszcz, Poland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Musial
mesh_terms: D001293:Attitude to Death; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001675:Bioethics; D019976:Cloning, Organism; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012922:Social Change; D012940:Social Problems; D012945:Social Values