Leszek Nowak’s Non-Christian Model of Man and the Interdisciplinarity of the Humanities

Abstract

In the article, the author outlines the theory of action by Polish philosopher Leszek Nowak, the so-called non-Christian model of man, which may provide basis for the theoretical integration of various disciplines within humanities. The models overcomes the limitations of the concepts of rationality of action, originating from the assumption that the acting subject always maximizes their own preferences. Meanwhile, the discussed theory states that apart from the principle of rationality the principles in force in human life include the principle of counter rationality and irrationality, which consist in maximisation of someone else’s, not one’s own, preferences and counter-preferences, respectively. The previous applications and expansions of the non-Christian model described in the article demonstrate that the model has been used in the analysis of political, economic and cultural phenomena. Hence, the model may be a cognitively useful foundation for conducting interdisciplinary research.