EN
If we talk about dilemmas and the ethical challenges of the present time, then we suggest simultaneously that these problems differ in some way from universal ethical questions, important to man in every epoch and in every circumstances, and from these issues which were important in the past or will turn out important in the future, however, at present the general agreement concerning definite decisions prevails. Then it is necessary to identify those special problems of the present time and point out the features due to which they acquire special significance to us. However, presenting the matter in such a way does not seem fully justified, because the times in which we live differ in many regards from all mankind has ever experienced. The development of science and technology and increasing possibility of activities resulting from them, and also a level of complexity of relations linking the acting subject with other different subjects and the external world, caused that also ethical problems have taken on a whole new dimension. The issues which in the beginning of the XXth century were considered as minor or banal (e.g. the problem of man’s influence on the environment) became the key ethical questions in the course of several decades stirring up deep divisions not only among ethicists, but also in the whole society. In majority, they are however practical problems connected with certain general philosophical theories, such as abortion, euthanasia or medical experiments. In the last years they grew almost into symbols, and the way of their deciding shows a general ideological attitude, and even allows to define political views.