Morderstwo jako odrębny typ działania śmiercionośnego. Analiza filozoficzno-prawna w kontekście tomistycznej etyki

The notion of “murder” plays an important role in philosophical, and ethical inquiries, for it denotes an act absolutely prohibited in the domain of human lethal actions. Yet, despite its relevance, it is repeatedly defined in the improper way. In this paper, the most essential elements of the moral concept of murder were determined on the basis of the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. It was shown that commonly accepted definitions of this concept (which consider murder as wrong killing or illegal killing) do not grasp the essence of the defined action. Moreover, contemporary and historical legal definitions of this concept were reconstructed and analysed. It was done in order to prove that they have a procedural character and play a practical role in the judicial system, but they do not recognize a proper moral meaning of this concept.