Abstract

The article is devoted to the confrontation of two ways of human fulfillment in man’s temporal existence. For half a millennium, the two main trends have been present in the European culture: the Protestant one and the Catholic one. One of their determinants are two different principles, the observance of which is to bring about the fulfillment of man in his earthly life. These respectively are: the principle of utility and the personalistic norm. The principle of utility, although it has undoubtedly practical significance, cannot be the basis for the moral qualification of a human act. On the other hand, the personalistic norm, even thought it was explicitly formulated by Karol Wojtyla, it has always been present in Christian tradition and is the foundation of Catholic ethics. Nowadays it is related to the personalistic anthropology of the human person. Although twentiethcentury personalism is a philosophy of man, it has theological justification, like the anthropology of St. Thomas Aquinas. The two principles we refer to serve as the starting point for the actual task, i.e. comparing the characteristic of the human person with the postulate of securitological sciences to protect a man against threats. The article uses the following resources: 1) the works of philosophical classics of British utilitarianism and more contemporary ones concerning its criticism, 2) the works developing personalistic thought, 3) the securitological texts ; 4) the documents of the Catholic Church. The work is analytical and comparative in nature. The two analyzed and juxtaposed solutions concern two problems, i.e. the goal and method of improving the human person and the condition of the three layers of human safety. The main research hypothesis is that there is a compliance between a high level of personal safety and personalistic anthropology, the most general interpretation of which is the personalistic norm. On the ontical level, the personalistic norm defines the concept of humanity, which immediately affects interpersonal relationships marked by love. Due to its theological justification, a high level of personal safety has its own pattern of holiness which exceeds utilitarian human calculations.