That article deals with the issue of bias and impartiality of the judge especially through the prism of the argument ad hominem, in context of so called anti-discrimination action, or the famous case named „Čentéš“. Thesis of the article claims that successful use of the ad hominem depends on size of the “touched” group by argument. With regard to the objection of bias of the judge author explains that the objecting to one judge as biased has greater chances to succeed than if we object all the judges. Arguments which article provides for the defence of the postulated thesis can be divided into two related categories. The first category says that, the subjective or objective test of bias, respectively impartiality of the judge in certain situations can be understood as a methodological tool for the system, rather than as a qualifying element of the whole system. The second category of argument is founded on the requirement of vertical institutional cohesion among concepts of democracy, justice and judges. The article also covers the argument ad hominem as such. Especially it deals with situations when this argument may be considered as a logical error or when it is correct argument within the argumentation scheme.
The first draft of this article was presented in December 2002 at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (Altenberg, Austria), as part of author's research project on the evolutionary perspective on human nature and ethics. Its second draft was presented at a conference entitled „Freedom and Equality in Contemporary Philosophy“, organized by the Society for the Advancement of Philosophy in Samobor (Croatia) in June 2005. The author thanks both audiences for their constructive discussions. One important component of utilitarian ethical framework is a specific version of the principle of impartiality. The principle claims that one should bring about the greatest possible overall utility or happiness and that our moral and morally relevant actions ought to result from objective and neutral deliberations, with all our personal interests, likes and dislikes left out. Drowing on relevant insights from sociobiology and evolutionary psychology this paper seeks to show that utilitarian principle of impartiality is seriously endangered by two interconnected Darwinian facts: (1) the fact that human biologically shaped psychology and motivation mechanisms do not fit well with the principle requiring the indiscriminate promotion of general happiness, and (2) the fact that human beings are individuals with naturally evolved personal desires, projects and ideals, and not merely spare parts of some general utilitarian clockwork of happiness.
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