O dwóch spojrzeniach na istotę ludzką w początkach jej istnienia

Abstract

On two views concerning human being in its beginning

The article considers two images of human being and a human person. One is associated with the so-called idea of postnatal abortion and hence with naturalistic anthropology. The other concerns the antinaturalistic view which seems to be a reverse version of the naturalist approach. Basically, the former is the functionalist concept of human being and the latter the substantialist one. These images are compared in a couple of respects. The most important are the following: first, the relation between human being and its personal characteristics, and second, the notion of potentiality. At the end of the paper an attempt is made to determine where a dividing line is. It results in a conclusion that they are separated by two different understandings of being. Thus, we are led to a claim that in the naturalist approach, human being “has” the person, whereas in the antinaturalistic one human being “is” the person.