Edmunda Steina droga do prawdy

Abstract

The article is an attempt to deal with the legacy of Edmund Stein, a Jewish thinker, the rector of the Institute of Human Sciences in Warsaw in the interwar period. Stein’s works focus on developing the concept of Hebrew humanism, which, according to the philosopher’s idea, is the way to know the truth. Hebrew humanism is also, in a sense, a response to the assumptions of the Catholic “humanism”, preached by Tadeusz Zieliński, and the polemic with this philosopher, as well as the polemic with the term humanism, created by Protagoras, which, according to the Jewish scholar, is not compatible with the position of the Judaic religion. In this article, the author develops two elements of Stein’s concept – ecological thinking and philosophy of work. One of the most important elements of Hebrew humanism and the implementation of ecological thinking is – in Stein’s concept – the relationship between a human and an animal, which should be ethical, because the animal, since it is a part of the same principle of creation as the human, has a right to dignity. Stein’s philosophy of work justifies the Zionist concept – by breaking with the vision of a Jew as a salesman, shopkeeper or banker, the thinker recognizes work as the vocation of humans, indicated by the Bible.