EN
The article is a resumé of the author’s doctoral thesis. It is an attempt (worked out in the order of discovery) to describe the gift of self (which Wojtyła identifies with love) by means of the previously developed category of the gift of something (rediscovered by Mauss) and the qualities of gift giving (selflessness, definiteness, reciprocity, joy, and gratitude linked with grace), as well as taking into account the intermediary category of gift from self (identified with service and ending with hospitality). The paper outlines the background of contemporary discussions on the gift, stressing the importance of the difference between dare and donare, discussing the modern trends that idealize the gift – involving anonymity, iconicity, ignorance, and non-reciprocity, all of which make the gift de facto impossible (Derrida, Lévinas, Marion) – and it also opens up some sociological and theological perspectives using an analogical conception of the gift.