Who is a man… storytelling matters
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: November 10, 2014, 19:00 – 21:00
An evening with Marek Orko Vácha
In 2005 the genome of the chimpanzee was mapped and the scientific community expected that a difference would be found when it was compared to ours – the humanity gene. The two sets of DNA are almost identical.
For Martin Buber, the question “who is a man” is the toughest there is; the answer to it determines our self-definition.
Totalitarian ideologies try to persuade people that they are not all that matters, that ideas and bright futures are what is important. In democracy, however, mankind is always above society. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, mankind is no less than the image of God, the co-creator of the universe. “Who is a man” therefore becomes perhaps contemporary Europe’s most important question – and its future hinges on the answer.
Marek Orko Vácha is a Roman Catholic priest and writer. He publishes in numerous journals and is interested in evolutionary biology and medical and environmental ethics, among other areas.