Heroism as the highest therapeutic possibility based on Antoni Kępiński

Heroism is one of the most original concepts of Antoni Kępiński contained in his works. Due to low availability of sources of information it faces some interpretative problems. The aim of the article is to indicate heroism and concepts associated with it (heroic attitude, heroic tendency or heroic proportion) as the highest therapeutic possibility. The author thoroughly analyzed the literature on the subject both by Kępiński himself and other authors (e.g., Kokoszka) and also obtained some information from Kępiński's colleagues. He made the analysis of these contents, using the interpretative framework based on subject's superior potentiality - man's self acting and experiencing his action. This concept comes from Karol Wojtyła's realistic phenomenology, which brings a certain interpretative novelty in the form of phenomenologically framed will. As a result one can establish the essential connection between heroism and superior potentiality that is determined by the essence of freedom. The final discussion confirms the title thesis, which widens and completes the knowledge about studied therapeutic factor, which gains the new potential for therapeutic practice and its research. This work is a review work, which can put a foundation for further development of the studied subject based on the applied interpretive framework.