Bioethical motifs in the literary work of Karel Čapek

JEMELKA, Petr. Bioethical motifs in the literary work of Karel Čapek. Ethics & bioethics (in Central Europe). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2019, vol. 9, 3-4, p. 168-180. ISSN 1338-5615. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2019-0019.

Basic information

• Original name: Bioethical motifs in the literary work of Karel Čapek
• Authors: JEMELKA, Petr (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Ethics & bioethics (in Central Europe), Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 2019, 1338-5615.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 60302 Ethics
• Country of publisher: Germany
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14410/19:00112042
• Organization unit: Faculty of Education
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2019-0019
• Keywords in English: bioethics; literature; life; humanity; science
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

This text presents an assessment of the literary work of Karel Čapek from a perspective that has not yet been discussed. It focuses on analysing Čapek’s works from the viewpoint of their possible inspiration by bioethical issues. Čapek’s philosophy and the powerful ethical charge of his texts tend to be associated with his interest in pragmatism, a subject to which, however, he took an individual and critical approach. One of the most important categories of his way of thinking is life. In his prose works and plays we therefore see motifs that may be associated with the thematic definition of bioethics. These are questions concerning the value and quality of human life, problems of the dehumanizing impact of science and technology, as well as reflections upon the moral dimension of man’s relationship to nature and also to the relationship between people and animals. Čapek’s work may therefore provide inspiration from the perspective of the history of the gradual formation of the bioethical point of view.