p In a complete state, moral consciousness, as we know it, is built on three pillars: humanism, responsibility and the scientific approach. Responsibility requires a scientific position but in turn only the latter permits the precision necessary for an understanding of humanism and the responsibilities vested on the human being. Humanism signifies humaneness, a respect for the human personality, the recognition of the principal equality of all humans as self-aware beings with a capacity for creation and self-development and, correspondingly, with a pursuit of freedom. This above all presupposes the recognition of the material needs of the individual; otherwise selfdevelopment and freedom remain empty phrases. From such a general perspective humanism remains an “abstract” entity. But it is an essential precondition for a moral attitude towards other humans. However the scientific approach does not allow one to rest content with this point of view alone, but requires further progress in pace with the understanding of the social nature of man and in accord with historical conditions and social contradictions. Thus we arrive at the concrete historical understanding of humanism and of human responsibility. The latter is rooted in the fact that each individual is in one way or another a co-participant in all that which takes place in society, that he is not only a product of circumstances but also an active participant in the creation of these circumstances. Because of his creative abilities the individual is also capable of altering these circumstances.
p The humanistic ideal of society is that association, in the words of Marx, in which the free development of each is the precondition of the free development of all. Responsibility summons one to work for such an ideal; the scientific attitude determines the path to travel to reach this ideal and serves as a guide in this journey and struggle.
p In the contemporary world this signifies above all the struggle for man, the struggle against a social order in which 49 one’s life is fully in the power of others. Vitally important for the success of this struggle are a profound understanding of human needs, of objective processes and the conditions governing further development, and an ability to search out optimal solutions and the ability to predict—in a word, an authentic scientific stance.
A relentless drive to acquire knowledge of the truth concerning society and the self is important for every thinking individual. To be human, and not simply the plaything of circumstances and external power; the subject and not merely the object of life; to be morally responsible rather than a philistine; to make a conscious contribution to the contemporary struggle—creativity, understanding and knowledge are as necessary as the air we breath. Morality requires knowledge of the meaning of human life and activities which runs deeper than that directly provided by the stream of the quotidian. This is only possible nowever with a scientific understanding of social development and of the place of the individual in this process. Only in unification with science and by incorporating the spirit of searching for the truth can morality carry through its mission as the conscious regulator of human activity. Therefore the isolation of morality from science, whatever the terms and regardless of intentions, is in reality the negation of authentic morality.
Notes