A few words on the “end of man”. Polemical contexts in current philosophy

Abstract

In the paper, the author asks whether what we have all heard over and over again of the “end of man” means the real end of man or, on the contrary, it has given rise to profound and necessary reevaluation of self-transparent subjectivity. The debate on the notion of selfhood has not been closed yet. The author analyzes two different approaches to the problem. One pertains to the “self ” that is taken as a monad. The other refers to dialogical theory of selfhood which, as she tries to explain, one may regard as a way of overcoming the essential problem with the constitution of ourselves. According to this, the author claims that it is necessary to reconsider the claims of modern philosophy. She suggests that many of the objections that have been made against subjectivity derive from the narrow view of philosophy in the
17th century.