John Amos Comenius on Pro-health Obligations

In his considerations of the appropriate course of the educational process, John Amos Comenius pays a lot of attention to the issues of health. This article demonstrates that Comenius’ argumentation proceeds along the following lines. Lifespan is important because of the nature of the developmental process of human beings – the development of the mind and acquisition of knowledge take time. Comenius assumes implicite that God gives every man the lifespan which is appropriate for him, i.e. sufficient to achieve the level of personal development which God planned for him, and to accomplish everything God intended him to accomplish. If a man does not lead his life the right way, if – because of his laziness or stupidity – he does not fill his life with the right substance or ruins his health by inappropriate lifestyle and shortens his earthly existence, then he acts against God’s intentions towards him. Thus, neglecting one’s own health and harming it intentionally becomes a sin, while concern for one’s health becomes a moral imperative.prof. dr hab. Maria Nowacka, Uniwersytet w Białymstoku, Katedra Bioetyki i Antropologii FilozoficznejUniwersytet w Białymstoku, Katedra Bioetyki i Antropologii FilozoficznejBlair A., Mosaic Physics and the Search for a Pious Natural Philosophy in the Late Renaissance, „Isis” 91, 1, 2000.Comenius and Contemporary Education, ed. Dobinson C. H., UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg 1970.Komeński J.A., Wielka dydaktyka, tłum. K. Remerowa, Zakład imienia Ossolińskich, Wrocław 1956.Nowacka M., Filozoficzne konteksty medycyny. Ujęcie historyczne od starożytności do końca XVIII wieku, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku, Białystok 2012.Nowacka M., Komeński i Locke jako prekursorzy wychowania prozdrowotnego, w: Inspiracje i kontynuacje problemów filozofii XVII wieku, red. Żelazna J.,Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń 2013.Nowacka M., Promocja zdrowia jako czynnik medykalizacji społecznej. Uwagi w odniesieniu do Karty Ottawskiej, w: Etyka w medycynie – Wczoraj i dziś. Wybrane zagadnienia, red. K. Basińska, J. Halasz, Oficyna Wydawnicza Impuls, Kraków 2013.Sadler J.E., J. A. Comenius and the Concept of Universal Education, Allen & Unwin, London 1966.Spinka M., John Amos Comenius: That Incomparable Moravian, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1942.Spinka M., Comenian Pansophic Principles, „Church History” 22, 2, 1953.Suchodolski B., Komeński, Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa 1979.79-9027/t.t.799