The first of our series of workshops dedicated to various aspects and questions of naturalism conceived as an universal philosophcal programme has taken the place on wednesday the 6th of november 2019. The topic of workshop was the issue of human nature as seen from the perspective of aristotelian and neoaristotelian philosophy. Two guests have accepted our invitation to present their ideas at the event: Doc. Mgr. Petr Dvořák, PhD. from the Czech Academy of Sciences and Palacký University in Olomouc, and Doc. Mgr. Marian Kuna, MA, MPhil, PhD. form the Catholic University in Ružomberok. Our own team was represented by projects' principal investigator Prof. Mgr. Michal Chabada, PhD.

Petr Dvořák has spoken about the problem of natural kinds and essentialism. He has focused on M. Nussbaums' conception of human nature as a collection of dispositions and functions indispensable for human well-being, as well as on the related theory of rational action authored by Ch. Koorsgaard.

Michal Chabada has dealt with the way in which the theory of human nature can be based on the principles of aristotelian ethical naturalism, according to philosopher Ph. Foot. In particular, Chabada has brought into focus the problem of rational will as it relates to human needs and, more broadly, human life, and to natural norms and their application to human virtues.

Marián Kuna introduced an aristotelian approach towards the question of human nature in the writings of A. MacIntyre. He has traced MacIntyres movement towards sociologically inspired aristotelianism and, subsequently, towards the understanding of human nature motivated by Thomism.

In the ensuing discussion, workshop participants were primarily appreciative of the fact that Aristotles (or broadly aristotelian) philosophy is being systematically reexamined. Several of them have pointed out that the fruitfulness of this approach is sugggested by its compatiblity with contemporary biological or evolutionary accounts of humans.