J 2019

Bioethical motifs in the literary work of Karel Čapek

JEMELKA, Petr

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

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

60302 Ethics

Country of publisher

Germany

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14410/19:00112042

Organization unit

Faculty of Education

DOI

Keywords in English

bioethics; literature; life; humanity; science

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 16/3/2020 14:18, Dana Nesnídalová

Abstract

V originále

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.