Zbieżność poglądów Bogusława Polniewicza i Stevena Pinkera w kwestii zła w naturze ludzkiej

The article is devoted to Bogusław Wolniewicz’s and Steven Pinker’s deliberations on human nature and its corruption with evil. Human nature can be defined as a set of inborn qualities, inclinations or aspirations. Wolniewicz’s view on human nature is pessimistic, he claims that people can consciously do wrong despite knowing what is right in a certain case.What is more, some individuals are psychopaths and their rehabilitation is impossible. This conclusion has been strongly rejected by philosophical tradition, especially by modern thought forcing the idea of a man’s inborn kindness. Wolniewicz’s deliberations are based on axiological point of view, while Pinker’s on psychological and evolutionary ones. However, they come to very similar conclusions. They also discuss why the idea of evil in human nature is consistently rejected in spite of the history of mankind, everyday experience and results of biological science.