EN
Aim: To put the human condition and the condition of the humanities in the perspective of critical human life situations and critical situations in the history of humanity. Methods: An analysis of primary sources and media statements by politicians and clerics. Results: The mutilation of human dignity is a constant element in the history of humanity. Man is a perpetrator, but also a victim of this mutilation. The constancy of mutilation of human dignity has its systemic sanction. Thus, it becomes a problem that transcends subjective conditions, for man is (becomes) a product of the system. Conclusions: The humanities, however, are incapable of putting what is singular, hat has happened, into a universal perspective beyond the area of declarative narrative. It is necessary, therefore, to reinterpret the basic concepts of the humanities seen in the perspective of critical human situations and the history of humanity.