Ethical minimalism of Tadeusz Kotarbiński

Abstract

The article presents a schematic reconstruction of Tadeusz Kotarbiński’s ethical views. An analysis of Kotarbiński’s ethical writings (which, unfortunately, are far from the ideal of precision) shows that the following theses constitute his ethical system. The basic negative moral norm is „you should do wrong to nobody beyond necessary need”, and the basic positive norm is “you should do good to somebody”. Thus Kotarbiński’s ethics can be called “local altruism”. For Kotarbiński the main virtue is protectiveness and for this reason his system is called „the ethics of a reliable guardian”. The reliable guardian’s goal should be prevention and elimination of unhappiness; thus Kotarbiński’s ethical system can be called “ethical minimalism”. Ethical norms are justified by induction supplemented by moral intuition. First, we recognize intuitively acts which are evidently good and those which are evidently evil; next, we abstract from them the essence of the honorable and of the dishonorable.Kotarbiński’s ethical system was intended to be independent from philosophical and religious doctrines, however, it’s content is very close to the evangelical ethics.