IDENTITA ČLOVEKA – MOŽNOSŤ ALEBO USKUTOČNENIE? „OTVORENOSŤ“ A „UZAVRETOSŤ“ ĽUDSKÉHO BYTIA V EXISTENCIALIZME PAVLA STRAUSSA

Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy has long presented man as possessing an unchanging being. The presence of this permanent being guarantees that the individual cannot escape his permanent identity, subjectivity, personal self, or his enduring human nature. We might say that man is essentially and substantially “closed” – without any possibility for ontological change. Existentialism, which proclaims the “openness” of human nature, radically breaks from this position. Essential identity is seen only as a plastic, changeable, impermanent instance – and thus, the product of subjective decisions and temporal creation. The relevance of Pavol Strauss’s philosophical ideas to the current issue lies in the fact that the beliefs of this Nitra-based philosopher are, on the one hand, explicitly Thomistic, while, on the other, his reflections align closely with existentialist ideas. Therefore, Strauss’s unique contribution lies in his original attempt to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable – to acknowledge an open ontological status of man without disturbing his closed ontological nature. In this sense, he distinguishes between two concepts: actualization and actuality.