The Necessity of Metaphysics in the Context of Contemporary Youth Social Support

Autor

  • Tibor Máhrik Faculty of Theology, Theological Institute, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Spišská Kapitula 12, Spišské Podhradie, Slovak Republic
  • Martin Majda Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Theology Catholic University in Ružomberok Hrabovská cesta 1A, 034 01 Ružomberok, Slovak Republic
  • Gabriel Paľa Department of Applied Education, Greek Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Prešov, Ulica biskupa Gojdiča 2, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia
  • Marek Debnár Department of Journalism and New Media, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, B. Slančíkovej 1, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2026.1.21.30

Słowa kluczowe:

metaphysics, Gen-Z, social support, identity, resilience, values, mental health

Abstrakt

Aim. This study analyses the renewed relevance of metaphysics in the context of contemporary challenges faced by young people, with special emphasis on identity formation, psychological vulnerability, and social support, investigating how metaphysical frameworks contribute to psycho-social development, value stability, and existential resilience.

Methods. The study applies a theoretical and interdisciplinary approach combining philosophical analysis, contemporary metaphysical debates, sociological theories of individualisation, and psychological research on youth mental health. It employs comparative conceptual analysis and theoretical synthesis of current literature.

Results. The anthropological and ethical instability experienced by today's youth cannot be adequately addressed without metaphysical grounding. Metaphysics provides conceptual tools for understanding human dignity, objective values, and identity coherence. Social support systems — family, peers, and community — prove significantly more stable and effective when rooted in shared metaphysical or transcendent assumptions.

Conclusions. Metaphysics remains essential for understanding the human person amid cultural fragmentation, normative relativism, and psychological fragility. Its rehabilitation strengthens youth identity formation, value stability, and social resilience, positioning it not as an archaic remnant, but as an indispensable conceptual framework within contemporary educational and social sciences. Future quantitative and qualitative empirical studies on youth populations are recommended to complement these theoretical findings.

Pobrania

Statystyki pobrań niedostępne.

Biogramy autorów

  • Tibor Máhrik - Faculty of Theology, Theological Institute, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Spišská Kapitula 12, Spišské Podhradie, Slovak Republic

    Associate Professor Tibor Máhrik, PhD. worked at several universities in Slovakia, currently is working as a researcher at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University in Ružomberok. With his education (MSc. in microelectronics at the Slovak University of Technology; PhDr. and PhD in nanoethics and philosophy at Constantine Philosopher University in Nitra; DipTh. in theology at Belfast Bible College) he bridges several fields of knowledge and seeks interdisciplinary interpretations of the phenomena under investigation. His areas of expertise are existential philosophy, biblical theology, and applied ethics, while specializing in the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and nanoethics. In recent years, as a NextGenerationEU Research Excellence Fellow, his research has focused on the interdisciplinary dimension of contemporary forms of solipsism, particularly in relation to critical thinking, the quality of family life, and the ethical challenges of contemporary society.

  • Gabriel Paľa - Department of Applied Education, Greek Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Prešov, Ulica biskupa Gojdiča 2, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia

    He completed his engineering studies at the Technical University in Kosice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, graduating in 1995. He completed his theological studies at the Comenius University, Roman Catholic Divinity Faculty in Bratislava, Theological Institute in Košice in 2002. He specializes in communication, mass media communication, mediation, media education, evangelization through media and application of media in church institutions. In 2012 he habilitated at the Faculty of Mass Media Communication at the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava in the field of Mass Media Studies. In 2018, the President appointed him a university professor in Catholic Theology. From 2007 to 2019, he held the position of vice-dean at the Greek Catholic Theological Faculty of PU in Presov. Currently, he works at the Department of Applied Educology of the GTF PU in Presov , where he was the head of the department from 2007 to 2019. He is the author and co-author of several monographs at home and abroad, numerous studies, articles, papers and editorial activities in the field of theology, mass media and communication.

  • Marek Debnár - Department of Journalism and New Media, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, B. Slančíkovej 1, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia

    Assoc. prof. Marek Debnár, PhD is a Slovak scholar specializing in aesthetics, the philosophy of media, semiotics, and digital humanities, with a particular focus on authorship, autobiography, and digital textuality. His research examines how aesthetic and philosophical categories are transformed in data-driven and algorithmic environments. He earned his PhD in systematic philosophy from Comenius University in Bratislava and completed his habilitation in aesthetics at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, where he currently teaches at the Department of Journalism and New Media. He previously worked as a researcher at the Institute of Slovak Literature and the Institute of Linguistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. Debnár was the principal investigator of the project DISPRO – Digital Collection of Slovak Prose, funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, and is a recipient of the NextGenerationEU Research Excellence Fellowship. He has completed research stays across Europe and the United States and has published in volumes issued by Peter Lang, Manchester University Press, and other respected international academic publishers.

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Pobrania

Opublikowane

2026-06-27

Numer

Tom 17 Nr 1 (2026): Journal of Education Culture and Society

Dział

ETHICS

Licencja

Prawa autorskie (c) 2026 Tibor Máhrik, Martin Majda, Gabriel Paľa, Marek Debnár

Creative Commons License

Utwór dostępny jest na licencji Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa 4.0 Międzynarodowe.

CC-BY

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. All authors agree for publishing their email adresses, affiliations and short bio statements with their articles during the submission process.

Jak cytować

Máhrik, T. ., Majda, M. ., Paľa, G., & Debnár, M. (2026). The Necessity of Metaphysics in the Context of Contemporary Youth Social Support. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 17(1), 21-30. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2026.1.21.30