THE PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CONTEMPORARY IDEAS OF A HUMAN COMMONWEALTH (Filozoficzne podloze idei wspólnoty ludzkiej)

In the contemporary visions of the human commonwealth one can find philosophical presuppositions which date back to the ancient periods of the western tradition, such as the cosmopolitan views of the Stoics. However, what seems most visible now is their particular transposition and, on the other hand, an effort to formulate one's own original assumptions. This up-to-date attitude predominates in two conceptions, discussed by the present authoress, namely Teilhard de Chardin's doctrine of the 'planetary unity of mankind', which comes into being through a process of evolution based on the principle of union difference, and Karl Jasper's conception of a commonwealth of rational beings uniting themselves through the principle of universal communication. Here, one can ask whether visions originating in such different philosophical traditions as the pantheism of the Stoics, the cosmological personalism of Teilhard, and the existentialism of Jaspers have any common background? Whether the altruist love of the Stoics, the mystical love of Teilhard, or the loving fight of Jaspers are nothing but utopias? What is the relationship between such concepts as divine Nature, the Omega point, and Transcendence? The attempt to answer these questions may get us closer to the practical agenda of creating an all-human commonwealth, a union of sovereign nations, founded on a world order which guarantees the freedom and dignity of the individual.