Dlaczego dziś potrzebujemy filozofii pracy księdza Józefa Tischnera?

Abstract

Father Józef Tischner belongs to the small group of original creators of Christian labour philosophy. Above all he was interesting in human labour in ethical, not economical or political aspect. For him it was a matter of human communication and co-operation, and simultaneously professional job ought to be as a chance for personal human development. Tischner perceived labour value from the side of human subject rather than from the side of objective labour results. It should arise from judicious interpersonal communication. On the contrary human labour can be apparent, when it is connected with worker exploitation or mistaken thinking about labour sense. Any illustration of the first understanding can one meet in capitalist system, for this second it is easy to find a good example in so called “real socialism” in Poland before 1989. But we can speak of the third understanding, not mentioned by Joseph Tischner. There are no possibilities for a certain kind of people to work, because they belong to continuously increasing margin of citizens, which can be called (Ralph Dahrendorf expression) as “socially unnecessary” people. There is no job for them, because their talents, gifts, skills, trained professions do not find interesting of employers in contemporary globalized world. Big corporations, having huge capital predominance in comparison to small business, are predisposed to mass production and they need standard workers. Persons favoured with unique qualifications do not find employment, because they are not able to win to employers considerable profits. In that world diversified job offer number is still reducing, because for economical and fincial decision-makers personal development of worker is not essential. Tischner’s thought is relevant in the similar way like the Catholic social teaching. If Christianity were eliminated entirely from the contemporary world, Tischner’s conception would be cancelled also. Then such concepts like: human dignity, personal subjectivity, conscience, ethically understood solidarity, common good, sense and validity of labour would become empty words only, and then such a dismissing the truth on human reality it would be brought to a complete human destruction. If it is not come, Tischner labour philosophy will be taken into account seriously as a good point of view for further reflections, aiming to regain lost subjectivity of working man.