Equality of Rights and Duties

Abstract

In his chief work Person and act concerning the transcendent virtue of natural ethical norms, the author, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, stresses the autonomous decision of the single person and thereby his own responsibility. This results in a deepened comprehension of what freedom of the human being really means. Only the conception of a balance between rights and duties of man will protect our own freedom and dignity. In Cardinal Wojtyła´s philosophy we can implicitly find the current answer to the problem of equality, which can´t be solved without the transcendent outlook. The article is limited to three parts: 1. Sources of Karol Wojtyła´s philosophy; 2. The role of conscience as legislator for the person; 3. Equality of rights and duties as moral imperative of human acts. We can describe Karol Wojtyła´s thinking as an emphasizing on the transcendent perspective as well as an equal estimation of responsibility compared to rights and liberties. Karol Wojtyła´s philosophy gives us a current answer to present challenges also concerning the problem of equality, which can´t be solved without transcendent outlook.