Introduction: Ethics as a Map of Emancipation
Maria Kostyszak’s book "Personal Ethics" is a philosophical manifesto that challenges the traditional understanding of morality. The author argues that classical normative ethics, based on rigid rules and logic, is an anachronism in liquid modernity. Instead of ready-made recipes, we are invited to a way of thinking where ethical reflection is inextricably woven into the fabric of life. Readers will discover how the philosophy of difference, art, and technology can become tools for reclaiming subjectivity. It is a journey toward an ethics that does not merely judge, but primarily transforms our forms of life.
Deconstruction and Genealogy: Dismantling Moral Norms
The foundation of Kostyszak’s methodology is deconstruction and genealogy. Drawing on the thought of Foucault and Derrida, the author exposes moral norms as historical constructs of power rather than absolute truths. This reveals that what we consider "natural"—such as the treatment of disability—is the result of specific social conditions. The author identifies key forms of the enslavement of consciousness: logocentrism (the dictatorship of reason), the automatism of thought, and the pressure of public opinion.
The response to these limitations is Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which serves as the foundation for a planetary ethics. In this view, morality has no single center; it is dispersed across a dynamic network of relations between humans, animals, and artifacts. Ethics ceases to be a set of prohibitions and becomes an attentiveness to the impact of our actions on the entire network of connections, transcending narrow anthropocentrism.
Technology as Relation and a Tool of Care
Contemporary philosophy of technology is undergoing a radical shift: the ethics of relation is displacing the model of responsibility. Previously, the ethics of technology was treated as a system of "brakes" to prevent catastrophe. Today, technology is no longer an external tool but a modus of existence that co-creates the human condition. Kostyszak calls for a return to the Greek understanding of techne—technology as the art of "bringing truth into beauty," which opens new possibilities of being rather than merely imposing control.
Ecofeminism aligns with this trend, redefining the relationship between technology and care. By criticizing the patriarchal exploitation of nature and bodies, ecofeminism proposes innovation free from the compulsion of hierarchy. It places corporeality and emotions at the center as legitimate sources of ethical knowledge. The body, with its fragility and capacity for empathy, becomes a site of resistance against sterile, technocratic efficiency.
Art and Pedagogy: A Laboratory of New Sensitivity
Art serves as a laboratory of emancipation, allowing the subject to break free from automatisms. The work of Krzysztof Kieślowski or Elżbieta Jabłońska represents "applied philosophy"—the embodiment of ethics in specific situations and gestures. This sensitivity is reflected in new educational models. Wiola Ostasiewicz’s pedagogy of closeness and Katarzyna Kuczyńska’s pedagogy of engagement reject cold distance in favor of reciprocity and an "economy of preservation" for cultural values.
A vital element of this project is panoramic pacifism. It demands a deep revision of historical narratives—a shift from the glorification of battles toward an appreciation of social tenderness. Existential pacifism, inspired by figures like Svetlana Alexievich, is not a naive utopia but a personal decision to refuse participation in the mechanisms of violence. Anti-military art exposes the pathos of war, opening a space for an authentic encounter with the "other."
Summary: Imagination as an Ethical Medium
Maria Kostyszak’s personal ethics is a project that integrates imagination, corporeality, and technicality into a coherent whole. When philosophy meets art, reflection gains a concrete texture, scent, and weight. In this process, imagination becomes a key ethical medium, allowing us to deprogram our social automatisms. An ethics that abandons imagination becomes powerless against a reality overloaded with data but devoid of meaning. Ultimately, techne regains its power, becoming effective not through command, but through the subtle unveiling of new paths for coexistence in a networked world.
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