The biologic value of every function in the organism depends on its contribution to the totality of homeostatic activity of the organism. On the table of values determined by such anatomic and physiological characteristic different cultures impose their own normative valorisation, which can be in conflict with the biological facts. The point is a culturalisation of the harmony of living functions which is subject of a following rule: functions which are in a small distance of their biological aim are neglected (...) and put into a state of cultural neutrality, like e.g. respiration which has never been valuated in categories of Good and Evil. On the other hand, functions separated by a longer causal chain from their biological aim are subject of intensive normative valuations. Such is the situation with the sex. Culturalisation of a function is never a valuation performed in an isolation, but consists always in the introduction of a function into an axiological coordinate system of a given culture. The cultural normatives assume at least a polarity of valuations, e.g. the sex, situated in some cultures at the pole of the „sacrum” was subject of its positive sublimation, and in other cultures has had a negative valuation. The sexual drive damped by the culture finds its expression not in a „revolt of biology against. culture”, but in a definite subcultural heterodoxy within given culture. In such a case it leads to a reversal of the plus and minus signs which have been established in an authoritarian way, or to connections of things which, according to the cultural directives, should be considered incompatible. (shrink)

In this book the author poses questions about the origin of human life, the place of humankind in the universe and perspectives, which the rapid development of medical knowledge and technological possibilities opens before humanity.