THE ROLE OF THE CONCEPT OF SPIRIT IN THE THOUGHT OF MAX SCHELER (Rola pojecia ducha w mysli Maxa Schelera)

According to Scheler spirit is an activity opposed to objective beings. The way in which spirit manifests itself is through a person, the absolute Divine person and the human person. The domain of the spirit in man is the sphere of intentional acts: intellectual acts, emotional acts of various kinds, volitive acts; it is distinct from the psychic and the vital. Spirit is therefore also contrary to life, the vital impulse. Spirit is a dynamic reality and comes to be through knowledge and love. It is not entirely clear what, according to Scheler, the reality and creativity of spirit consists of. The development of Scheler's thought can be described as an attempt to make more precise the characteristics of spirit, especially with reference to the vital impulse. Here Scheler moves from underlining the primacy of spirit and its active role to accenting the helplessness of spirit, which in its becoming needs an extra-spiritual factor, a vital impulse. This shift seems to be one of the motives for Scheler's move from a theist conception to a position in which God, man, and the world come into being together.