My chief aim in this article is to call upon the research of some exceptional scholars to make some refinements to Étienne Gilson’s teaching about the nature of Christian philosophy. In the process of so doing, I also aim to make as comprehensible as I can why Gilson, from 1931 through the rest of his academic life, had so much difficulty making intelligible to himself and to others precisely what he had meant by the term ‘Christian Philosophy.”.

In this article, the author discusses the issue of the understanding of so-called relationes secundum dici in St. Thomas Aquinas’ metaphysical thought. This is a specific type of relations with which commentators and continuators of Aquinas’ philosophy have usually had some difficulties. The very name of the relations – relationes secundum dici – has caused problems, since, at first sight, it indicates that at stake there is just a problem of predication about things (beings) and it has nothing to do (...) with the ontic problem of the beingness of being as such. Until now, there has been no common agreement as to how we should interpret the kind of relations under discussion. And the issue is extremely important, since this is a key element of St. Thomas’ metaphysics, because it is the interpretation of secundum dici relations that the solution of many basic metaphysical questions depends on. In the article, an attempt is made to reach an understanding of secundum dici relations – i.e., the understanding of St. Thomas himself. At the beginning, some of Aquinas’ statements are presented in which he directly speaks about secundum dici relations. Next, the most prominent interpretations of these relations throughout the history of philosophy are sketched. Finally, the author tries to specify how the secundum dici relations should be understood. (shrink)

This article examines the relationship between the theologies of St. Thomas Aquinas and Pope St. John Paul II with respect to their accounts of the state of original innocence or “original justice.” The author contends that, in his “Theology of the Body,” John Paul II presumes and builds upon the Thomistic account by demonstrating their continuity of thought; the second contention is that the pontiff develops the Thomistic account by emphasizing the teleological nature of the self-mastery characteristic of the prelapsarian (...) state as ordered toward self-gift as well as in the interpersonal dimension of that primitive beatitude. (shrink)

Karol Wojtyła understood that the turn to the subject had beneficially augmented traditional metaphysics by revealing the uniqueness of each person. Nevertheless, he also knew that for those investigations into personhood to resist devolving into mere relativism, the analysis had to be grounded in the metaphysical principles of Thomism. One contemporary illustration of an ungrounded subjectivism is the rise of identitarianism; that is, the idea that people can choose their own identity based on a peculiar property as distinct from our (...) common human nature. In this paper, I will examine both the Thomistic metaphysical and phenomenological personalist bases for critiquing identitarianism. I will argue that the analogy of being, distinguishing substance from dependent modes of being, is the necessary metaphysical foundation for the personalist integration of actions in a subject who, while unique, must be recognized primarily as an instance of a common human nature. (shrink)

One might wonder whether the essence of love involves self-transcendence. If it does, then philosophers who speak of self-love could not really be addressing love at all. Perhaps they address a related phenomenon, maybe even a good, positive reality, but not love itself. Since St. Thomas Aquinas speaks to the legitimacy of the love of self, philosophers who argue the essence of love involves self-transcendence criticize the scholastic’s position. This is the exact criticism Dietrich von Hildebrand advances in The Nature (...) of Love. This paper defends Aquinas against von Hildebrand’s suggestion that “self-love” is not really love at all. I will argue that, based on both natural and supernatural principles, Aquinas’s notion of the love of self, as far as it relates to the love of God, involves transcendence. (shrink)

The main purpose of this essay is to defend moral principles in the light of their critique by advocates of anti-theory in ethics. Moral principles, according to critics, cannot realize the main aim of principle-based ethics, which is providing a decision procedure. Abstract, general character of rules cannot correctly recognize an action’s moral value. The relation between normative and descriptive cannot be captured by principles. The above arguments were critically analyzed. For our moral judgments to remain rational and justifiable, they (...) must assume the necessary relationship between what is non-moral (descriptive) and what is normative. Without that, moral evaluation would be arbitrary. Attention was drawn to the fact that rules are the result of the general (abstract) nature of human cognition, which takes place in particular situations. The principles themselves are revealed as specific regularities discerned in particular instances. The limited usefulness of principles requires the development of a moral theory to complement their deficiencies. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to show the unique relationship of master and disciple in the concept of Father Jacek Woroniecki. First, the characteristics of the master and his or her features were mentioned, then the profession of a teacher and educator was analyzed, with particular emphasis on the problem of underestimating this profession on the one hand, and on the other hand, showing the teacher’s qualities per Woroniecki’s writings. An important element of the article is the issue of (...) requirements from the educator and the obedience of the student, because at this point Woroniecki’s pedagogy responds in a special way to the needs of contemporary culture permeated by permissiveness, arbitrariness and extreme freedom. The central part of the article refers to the master-disciple relationship and the conditions of this unique communication. Since the most effective and desirable educational method is witness, the analyses contained in the final part of the article focus on Father Woroniecki as an example, an authority, a master who, with his life, confirmed the fundamental theses that he proclaimed and included in his rich achievements focused on the process of human upbringing. (shrink)

Information has been omnipresent and all-powerful for almost two centuries, and now possesses sophisticated and invasive means of imposing itself and creating opinion. It was crucial in the Enlightenment and in the preparation of the French Revolution by the intellectual and bourgeois elites. Its characteristic is to be the opposite of intangible truths, to be moving, malleable and adaptable. It is the new replacing the old. It is bracketed by history, because it ignores tradition and no longer needs the past. (...) The creation of opinion in the 18th century introduced a concept of freedom that in fact conceals totalitarianism. People are told what to think. Information is a weapon against all forms of personal reflection and inner life. It imposes itself and imposes, making it impossible to distance oneself. It even kills the democracy it boasts about. (shrink)

Abbé Lionel Groulx (1878-1967) is the most influential intellectual in Quebec history. A historian and nationalist activist, he asserted that the French language was the guardian of the Catholic faith in North America. He edited L'Action française de Montréal (1917-1928), a magazine inspired by the traditionalist thinking of Maurice Barrès and Charles Maurras. Groulx advocated Quebec independence as early as 1922. He denounced Anglo-Saxon cultural infiltration of French-Canadian society, through both British imperialism and American capitalism. He harshly criticized the "Quiet (...) Revolution" of the 1960s, which de-Christianized Quebec under the pretext of modernizing it, and in particular the educational reform that distanced French culture in America from the living axis of ancient Greco-Latin civilization. (shrink)

The word "school" has never been so commonly used as it is today. But do we really think about what it means? What reality(s) lie(s) behind this apparently neutral term? Originally encompassing a wide range of different meanings, the noun gradually became confined, in the wake of the Renaissance and the French Revolution, to common or public education, associated with simultaneous teaching. Older, more traditional forms of child-rearing, more domestic in nature, have steadily declined. The consequences of this anything but (...) trivial phenomenon are numerous for individuals, families, societies and even the Church. It's important to be aware of them, to be conscious of them, and to take stock of them, which is what this two-part post hopes to contribute to. (shrink)

The word "school" has never been so commonly used as it is today. But do we really think about what it means? What reality(s) lie(s) behind this apparently neutral term? Originally encompassing a wide range of different meanings, the noun gradually became confined, in the wake of the Renaissance and the French Revolution, to common or public education, associated with simultaneous teaching. Older, more traditional forms of child-rearing, more domestic in nature, have steadily declined. The consequences of this anything but (...) trivial phenomenon are numerous for individuals, families, societies and even the Church. It's important to be aware of them, to be conscious of them, and to take stock of them, which is what this two-part post hopes to contribute to. (shrink)

Between the French Revolution and the Second Vatican Council, alongside a magisterium of anathemas against the modern world born of this Revolution and against the concessions made to political modernity by liberal Catholics, culminating in Pius IX's Quanta Cura, another operation unfolded on the part of Rome, describable as "diplomatic" in a broad sense. One thinks in particular of the instructions for rallying to the modern Republic given by Leo XIII to French Catholics in his 1892 encyclical Au milieu des (...) sollicitudes. But there have been other acts before and since that enter into this perspective, by which the Holy See seemed to contradict, for the benefit of established liberal powers, its condemnation in principle of the institutions on which these same powers rested: the coronation of Napoleon, the "second Ralliement" of the 1920s, the abandonment of the Cristeros for "reasons of Church". (shrink)

The Vendée War (1793-1795) was an essential part of the French Revolution (1789-1799). A region of western France, south of Nantes, the Vendée, refused to continue obeying the new authorities of the Republic (1792), against a backdrop of forced military mobilization and anti-Catholic religious persecution. This peasant insurrection, led by nobles like Charette, suffered terrible repression, beyond military counter-insurgency. The Convention, the assembly governing the Republic, was very frightened in 1793, in a context of difficult foreign war and multiple domestic (...) disputes. It took revenge by organizing a populicide in the Vendée. Carrier's infamous massacres in Nantes, carried out to order, were the norm, not a pathological exception. The infernal columns of the Republican army carried out the Vendée genocide. We propose to rediscover these historical facts, sometimes still hidden. (shrink)

This paper aims to highlight Joseph de Maistre's pioneering work in anthropology, which 150 years before Girard came to the same conclusions as Girard: the importance of sacrifice in human societies, the logic of violence and its resolution, and the particular character of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which comes as a fulfillment and definitive end to the logic of bloody sacrifice. This little-known aspect of the counter-revolutionary thinker gives us a better understanding of the issues of matriarchy, patriarchy and (...) Christian patriarchy, right up to contemporary developments with gender. He also gives us an example of the application of Catholic realism, based on theology and nourished by sound Thomistic metaphysics, and how a return to this Catholic realism in the human sciences is a key to understanding contemporary phenomena. (shrink)

Grandson of King Charles X, the earl of Chambord, Henry V (1820-1883), incarnated during his life the hopes of monarchical restoration of French legitimists, exercising a true moral royalty. In his speeches and letters, he presented a political program for to counter the ideas of French Revolution. The reflection of the earl of Chambord appears, during the third quarter of the XIXth century, like the most completed expression of counter-revolutionary thinking. To restore social harmony disturbed by the Revolution, the earl (...) of Chambord wanted to embody a Christian monarchy tempered by a new definition of representation rules, the recovery of local freedoms and the concern to restore social justice by improving the workers conditions of life. This political program encountered opposition from circles liberal-conservative who wanted to guard against the restoration of king adhering to the principles formulated by Pius IX in the Syllabus. They put to their support unacceptable conditions for the earl of Chambord, demanding to him to accept “the principles of 89”. The White flag crystallized this frontal opposition, failing the third restoration. (shrink)

Karol Wojtyła’s seminal essay, “Thomistic Personalism,” presents an integral theory of the human person that may serve as the foundation for an authentically personalist psychology. Relevant to the contemporary field of psychology, which appears fragmented and in search of a unifying paradigm, Wojtyła considered theory (anthropology), research (epistemology), and practice (ethics). In terms of research, he identified four complementary methods of understanding the human person: revelation (theology), reason (philosophy), observation (empiricism), and introspection (experience). In terms of theory, Wojtyła addressed the (...) rudiments of Rychlak’s four dimensions of a personality theory: structure, motivation, development, and personality. In terms of practice, he described four guiding ethical principles: freedom for morality, freedom for love, personal good and common good, and transtemporal values. Wojtyła thus offered an outline for the project of a comprehensive psychology of persons with significant implications for the theory, research, and practice of psychology. (shrink)

In the article, the author undertakes the problem of whether the world, which in the light of the philosophical theory of creation ex nihilo was introduced into being as indestructible in some of its elements, can be annihilated by God and turned into non-being again. The divine power, which is the principle that sustains the world in existence, is subjected to metaphysical analysis. In the first part, the considerations concern the order of potentia Dei absoluta and focus on whether the (...) annihilation of creation is within the scope of God’s power and what such an action may consist in. In the second part, the subject of consideration is the ordered power of God (potentia Dei ordinata), which is related to the search for an answer to the question of whether God, from whom the effect in the form of creation comes, not only can but actually wants to deprive the world of existence? Since the annihilation of the world is related to the issue of God’s decision to stop the creative activity that has been initiated, in addition to the principle of power, God’s will is also taken into account in the last part of the analysis. (shrink)

The article contains the analysis of Charles Maurras’s and Étienne Gilson’s reflections on beauty in the light of the antique reflections on this ground which are present in the philosophical thought of the French thinkers either directly or through thinkers who inspired them. The article also analyzed the question of art from the point of view of reflections on beauty that they both made. This made it possible to show both the similar points and distinctions between them in light of (...) classical tradition in its reflection on beauty, especially from the metaphysical point of view, which shows that both Gilson’s and Maurras’s reflections on beauty grew on classical grounds. It explains why the thought of Maurras and Gilson in this area is important also from the perspective of contemporary discussions. (shrink)

Contemporary Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han covers a wide range of topics in his many books, ranging from time to death to beauty to power, among others. While Han couches his investigations and critiques, mainly into and of present-day society, in the language of anti-neoliberalism, anti-capitalism, and other standards of the day, I understand Han’s hidden preoccupation to be the human person. In this essay I examine some of Han’s books to draw out his personalist philosophy more clearly.

The paper examines Jean Baudrillard’s conception of society as the silent majority. Thus conceived society has been shaped against the background of digital media transformations. Paying attention to the relationship between citizens perceiving media messages, and the media themselves and the power creating spectacular media messages, became the basis for Jean Baudrillard’s model of the relationship between power and society. This relationship takes on the function of the silent majority. A society with these characteristics emerged as a reaction to the (...) simulative nature of power. For Baudrillard, simulation processes are the starting point of his analysis of the political sphere. Understanding society as the silent majority introduces a diagnosis of the functioning of the politician-voter relationship. (shrink)

Nicholas Cusanus is often seen as a pivotal figure in the history of Western philosophy. His writings are sometimes viewed as an attempt to reject the traditional scholarly knowledge, troubled by manifold tensions and crises, in order to prevent the collapse of Western Christianity under the weight of its complex architecture of knowledge. In this paper, I try to refute this mode of interpretation by highlighting the roots and structure of Cusanus’s theory of knowledge that serve as the basis of (...) his concept of docta ignorantia. I present the concept of docta ignorantia as being intended to serve the purpose of a unifying framework for academic discourse. (shrink)

In this article, Étienne Gilson analyzes the notions of dogmatism and tolerance in the light of the analysis of various contemporary historical facts. He defines dogmatism as the philosophical position that affirms that there are certain propositions that can be considered absolutely necessary. Similarly, he defines tolerance in direct relation to dogmatism: for Gilson, there can only be tolerated where there is dogmatism since one can only tolerate the falsity of a position as long as one is sure that another (...) true position exists. Likewise, Gilson succeeds in showing that there is no necessary link between what is called philosophical dogmatism and political tyranny, just as there is no necessary link between philosophical scepticism and political freedom. (shrink)

This article considered the correlation between freedom, conscience, and self-fulfillment. The analysis began with the properties of human action and how action differs from happening. The primary theme was an exposition of freedom which lies at the root of “man-acts.” The fundamental meaning of freedom is self-dependence, but there is a deeper meaning. Freedom is independence from the objects of choice that is achieved by rising above oneself (vertical transcendence) to choose the bonum honestum, the true good that fulfills the (...) self. Freedom, therefore, ultimately depends on truth and especially on moral truth that is apprehended by conscience. Conscience transforms that normative truth into concrete duties that objectivize the bona honesta. Only when someone follows a moral duty understood and accepted as such can he reach the summit of freedom and authentic self-determination. (shrink)

The text presented aims to illustrate the thesis of E. Gilson derived from his work “The Unity of Philosophical Experience” on the impersonal necessity linking philosophical ideas, as exemplified by Porphyry and his work Sententiae ad intelligibilia ducentes. E. Gilson puts forward a thesis that the philosopher is free at the moment of choosing the first principles of their philosophy, then they must accept the consequences that necessarily follow from these principles. Porphyry’s Sentences are a fairly synthetic account of Plotinus’ (...) metaphysics and allow for a quite clear grasp of both the starting point and the above-mentioned consequences. In addition, for contrast, the paper presents the position of Alexander of Aphrodisias, similar in several points to that taken by Porphyry, but ultimately completely different. (shrink)

The Philosophical Fragments (Lambeth Fragments) of St. Anselm of Canterbury are a kind of dictionary that explains the meaning of certain terms, such as: facere, velle, posse, necesse, debere, or agere. They include a discussion, conducted on the intersection of logic and ethics, of such deontic concepts as “obligation” and “goodness.” Through the explication of meanings, Anselm attempts to create a conceptual apparatus for rational proofs of the main tenets of the Christian doctrine and, even more broadly, for the exegesis (...) of Scripture. In addition, this new apparatus allows him to examine some purely philosophical topics, including free will, causation, and the relationship between human freedom and divine foreknowledge. Recently attempts have been made (by D. Walton at the level of syntax and by S. Uckelman at the level of neighborhood semantics) to reconstruct the logic of agency presented in the Philosophical Fragments. The article will briefly introduce the main issues discussed in the Philosophical Fragments. The paper shows that the description and analysis of the verb “facere” mainly in the Philosophical Fragments, but also in Anselm’s other treatises, can be well described within the Aristotelian logical square; however, the article shows some problems in trying to describe the concepts of causation, agency, and action in the language of logic. Thus, the article examines the thesis of the applicability of logic to the fundamental problems of metaphysics, namely causality, especially in the context of human free will and God’s action. (shrink)

The paper analyzes the argumentation that the representatives of Polish neo-scholasticism, Gabryl and Wais, used to justify the existence of God and the immortal human soul. The analysis shows the high intellectual requirements observed by both thinkers. Not only have they avoided naive confessional apologetics, but they were critical when choosing arguments from different philosophical traditions as well. The scientific activity of the two scholars was a reflection of the program of the renewal of scholasticism formulated in Leuven. The features (...) of this program were both restraint in using the term “Christian philosophy” and avoiding confessional apologetics on the one hand and the preservation of its specificity on the other. This specificity was expressed in undertaking the traditional tasks of Christian philosophy: undertaking the justification of preambula fidei and the observation of the negative role of faith. (shrink)

This paper aims to present the specific functioning of the emotion of hatred from the point of view of the Aristotelian-Thomistic concept of emotions. This perspective is particularly relevant to the issue at hand because of its holistic and integral view of understanding human beings, including their emotional functions. In this paper, I consider the issue of the emotion of hatred in relation to other emotions against the backdrop of the structure of human action. When analyzing how hatred functions, I (...) consider the notion of good and evil, which are linked to emotions and acts of will that play a vital role in the sphere of emotions. By correctly channeling one’s will towards the good, one is able to notice hatred arising within, and thus reflect upon it. Understanding how the emotion of hatred functions is essential for further research into how it is expressed. (shrink)

This paper presents the sociological research carried out among Polish and Ukrainian students concerning the importance of family within their life. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the differences and similarities in the perception of this fundamental group unit of society. The research was conducted at a unique time, as it was during the ongoing period where Ukraine has been a country at war, in addition to the epidemic outbreak of COVID-19. It was assumed that these special circumstances (...) as well as the cultural differences would influence the perception of marriage and family. In a threatening situation, a person can change their former value system, priorities, and the most important life goals. In addition, the observed social and cultural changes that are taking place in both countries - albeit not at the same time and to the same extent - affect the way young people see their vision of the world, and in particular in what family model they would like to spend their future, and also whether they think about starting a family at all. (shrink)

Paul de Lacvivier This paper aims to highlight how the trial of Louis XVI expresses a complete inversion of the legal principles of Old Christian France, where the authority of the absolute King submits to superior customary and divine laws, against the Revolution, which makes the ‘general will’ a God allowing for unrestrained legal positivism. After recalling how the assassination of the King allowed the vicious circle of terror, the trial of Marie-Antoinette and the revolutionary trials, we propose an explanation (...) of the legal principles that can lead to this kind of totalitarianism. To do so, we present some cases from 19th century Japan, which, when compared with the revolutionary trials and the pre-revolutionary Christian world, provide a key to understanding: the hierarchy of positive, natural and divine laws greatly explains how such and such a legal system can allow or not the justification of mass crimes or totalitarianism. Jason Morgan In his 2022 volume Common Good Constitutionalism, and in a series of essays and other works prior to the book’s release, Harvard Law School professor Adrian Vermeule advances a new vision for the American republic. Against the two dominant strains of constitutional interpretation in the United States, namely originalism and progressivism (“living constitutionalism”), Vermeule argues for common good constitutionalism, a return to the ius commune pursuit of that which is good for all in accordance with the natural law. While Vermeule’s work is ambitious and his intervention into originalist-progressivist debates welcome, a question remains: will common good constitutionalism be able to overcome America’s Enlightenment civil religion? In this paper, I consider the challenges which America’s Enlightenment civil religion poses to common good constitutionalism (and any other attempt to think past the Constitution from within a constitutional framework), concluding that common good constitutionalism, insofar as it is predicated on the pre-existing Constitution and deployed within the American politico-theological domain, cannot overcome America’s Enlightenment civil religion to effect the common good. (shrink)

Prepared by other iconoclasms, French revolutionary vandalism spared nothing and inspired the destruction of successive revolutions throughout the world. The contradiction lies in the fact that, at the same time, the actors of this drama were developing the idea of heritage that is still prevalent in our country today. There was no shortage of decrees and laws, most of which had no effect. Two prominent examples are briefly discussed here: the desecration of the royal basilica of Saint-Denis and the fate (...) of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. The powerlessness of a few men who were aware of the tragedy unfolding before them shows how the machine that mercilessly crushed human beings was also particularly effective in erasing the traces and roots of a two-thousand-year-old culture founded on God and the King. (shrink)

The term „Lublin Philosophical School” refers to the mode of philosophizing devised in the 1950’s at the Catholic University of Lublin. After a brief history, the paper first discusses some methodological features of this mode and the social role of philosophy as a self-awareness of culture. Employing the School’s philosophy, the paper then considers the issue of post-truth and that of the value-ladenness of science. The post-truth approach replaces evidence with emotions, and in consequence, argumentation is replaced with power. This (...) in turn threatens the human person, her rationality and freedom. Admitting that science is value-laden and values are subjective leads to denying the cognitive status of science. Lublin philosophy offers such a concept of value and scientific knowledge which allows one to solve the problem created by the value-ladenness of science. Thus, the paper shows that the Lublin School’s philosophy can provide answers to contemporary problems and evaluate intellectual developments of culture. (shrink)

In 1880, the French Parliament chose 14 July as the bank holidays, referring to two important events in the history of the French Revolution: on the one hand, the storming of the Bastille during the revolutionary days of July 1789 and, on the other hand, the Fête de la Fédération, which took place one year later to celebrate the birth of the new France, the France built by the Constituent Assembly. The choice of 14 July as the bank holidays expressed (...) the desire of the republican majority of the time to consider the French Revolution as the founding moment of French history, thus wiping out thirteen centuries of Christian history. The annual celebration of this founding myth, from the time of the Revolution, aimed to influence sensibilities in order to transform the individual into a citizen nourished by the values of the Revolution. (shrink)

This paper aims to highlight how the trial of Louis XVI expresses a complete inversion of the legal principles of Old Christian France, where the authority of the absolute King submits to superior customary and divine laws, against the Revolution, which makes the ‘general will’ a God allowing for unrestrained legal positivism. After recalling how the assassination of the King allowed the vicious circle of terror, the trial of Marie-Antoinette and the revolutionary trials, we propose an explanation of the legal (...) principles that can lead to this kind of totalitarianism. To do so, we present some cases from 19th century Japan, which, when compared with the revolutionary trials and the pre-revolutionary Christian world, provide a key to understanding: the hierarchy of positive, natural and divine laws greatly explains how such and such a legal system can allow or not the justification of mass crimes or totalitarianism. (shrink)

In his 2022 volume Common Good Constitutionalism, and in a series of essays and other works prior to the book’s release, Harvard Law School professor Adrian Vermeule advances a new vision for the American republic. Against the two dominant strains of constitutional interpretation in the United States, namely originalism and progressivism (“living constitutionalism”), Vermeule argues for common good constitutionalism, a return to the ius commune pursuit of that which is good for all in accordance with the natural law. While Vermeule’s (...) work is ambitious and his intervention into originalist-progressivist debates welcome, a question remains: will common good constitutionalism be able to overcome America’s Enlightenment civil religion? In this paper, I consider the challenges which America’s Enlightenment civil religion poses to common good constitutionalism (and any other attempt to think past the Constitution from within a constitutional framework), concluding that common good constitutionalism, insofar as it is predicated on the pre-existing Constitution and deployed within the American politico-theological domain, cannot overcome America’s Enlightenment civil religion to effect the common good. (shrink)

The article discusses the influence of the Lublin school of Thomistic philosophy on the scientific and cultural life of Poland and the world in the 20th century. The author shows that the Lublin university, from the very beginning of its establishment, based its model of scientific life on the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. This resulted from papal teaching (Leo XIII, Pius XI). The philosophy was developed remarkably during the communist era, when the Lublin Philosophical School was formed. It produced (...) numerous publications and created an environment that had a great influence on the intellectual life of Poland. The Lublin milieu, based on Thomism, entered into an effective discourse with the ideological currents that swept the Western world. In the interwar period, this was Bolshevik Marxism and National Socialism. In modern times, this discourse is conducted with the postmodern current and the neo-Marxist philosophy of the Frankfurt School. (shrink)

This article examines Karol Wojtyła’s concept of participation and alienation by starting the discussion on his personalist anthropology, leading to his structure of the human community. Wojtyła’s personalist anthropology reveals to us the nature of the human person as a unique, unrepeatable personal subjectivity. According to Wojtyła, the human act takes us to the knowledge and understanding of the person’s interiority and simultaneously allows us to have a glimpse of the human person’s specific complexity. Then, I analyze the correlation between (...) person-action in living and acting with other persons. Here, I attempt to demonstrate that if our existence has to acquire any human significance, it is that, rather than alienation, which makes such a unique experience possible. Finally, I explored the impact of the failure to grasp a genuine understanding of the human person and the capacity to participate in the humanity of other persons, setting a profound sense of alienation that dehumanizes us to our very core. This paper aims to answer the following questions: Given the actions that can be performed ‘together with others,’ how does the person’s acting with others affect the dynamic correlation of the action with the person? What is the significance of this participation for the personalistic value of the action? Why is alienation antithetical to participation? (shrink)

The central ideas that organize the thought of Tadeusz Styczeń are the person and its dignity, as well as the experience of truth. The guiding principle of ethical personalism that he formulates, “The person of others should be affirmed as one’s own, that is, for their own sake.” does not stop at the level of individualistic ethics, but is translated into some further issues of social ethics. The author of the article attempts to present and analyze the assumptions which, according (...) to Tadeusz Styczeń, constitute the anthropological and ethical basis of the order of a democratic state. If democracy is not just a myth and an empty slogan on the lips of politicians, it must become a tool for the affirmation of a person for societies following its paths – a self-governing human subject who is open both to knowing the truth and to others. Following Styczeń’s central ideas of personalism, the author’s deliberations aim at answering the key question of democracy: What is the essence and expression of being of this self-governing human subject among other self-governing human subjects, and how does it then take the shape of democracy? (shrink)

The purpose of the article is to answer the question whether posthumanism is the end of the homo sapiens era. The multitude of posthumanisms can be reduced to two main views: cultural posthumanism and techno-humanism. Cultural posthumanism postulates a change in the image of man, while technological posthumanism postulates his enhancement. Posthumanist discourse cannot change human nature, but it does affect his condition. Although human nature is unchangeable, the corporeal-biological aspects of this nature are particularly susceptible to modifications. At the (...) same time, it is difficult to indicate the actual boundaries of where the introduced changes either enhance or impair man. (shrink)

The sexual revolution of the 20th century was based on a redefinition of the body, which led to a new postmodern sexual ideal in which the body and sexuality were freed from the limitations of biology. This phenomenon was inserted within the logic of capitalism, which proposes itself as a “theory of everything,” that is to say, comprehensive of all human reality. Sexuality thus became an object of consumption, bowing to the logic of the capitalist system in which everything can (...) be bought and sold. This new sexual market is based on sexual freedom, giving rise to a fierce competition between users that reaffirms narcissistic, individualistic patterns. In this sense, through the theory of sexual capital, the monogamous structure that existed prior to the sexual revolution and the new polyamorous structure of postmodernity are compared, with the conclusion that the sexual revolution has generated new forms of unforeseen sexual violence. (shrink)

This paper explores a normative layer of Habermas’s public sphere in its relation to human rights. His public sphere came into being as a result of a spontaneous nonconformity manifested by the early bourgeoisie’s reaction to an absolutist regimen making inroads in the realm of basic human liberties; it managed to survive the changeable conditions of society and state thanks to its participants’ capability of cultivating collective self-determination, fed from the outset by the intellectual claims of modernity. Thereafter, the link (...) between Habermas’s public sphere and human rights bifurcates, leading concurrently to liberal individual rights (Menschenrechte) and to the republican freedom of popular sovereignty (Volkssouveränität). Further revisions and corrections transpose that simple dualism from the clear-cut bourgeois world of universal morality into the realm of legalism and the protocols de rigueur in the world of systems. Habermas integrates individual human rights and popular sovereignty in the procedures of a democratic state, overcoming this ostensibly irreconcilable duality in his genuine claim about the co-originality of civil autonomy. This thesis institutionally unifies universal pre-constitutional morality, with legalism regulating the democratic world of legal subjects (citizens) and their constitutionally guaranteed entitlement. (shrink)

This work is developed within the context of the theological turn of French phenomenology (Janicaud), analyzing the notion of life that Michel Henry stages in the first of his works, The Essence of Manifestation. To this end, we intend to explain what the French author understands both by the alienated manifestation of phenomena in terms of representation or ontological monism, and by the self-manifestation of life that he privileges, which does not consist in placing the phenomena in the light of (...) a conscience, as would be characteristic of the first manifestation, but in a philosophy of Night that owes nothing in the strict sense to mundane transcendence. The latter is preceded and, in any case, made possible by the former. According to Henry, there is an absolute knowledge that is not susceptible to any progress, thus founding a pathetic philosophy by which life reveals itself (Parousia) without the need for intermediaries that would alienate its intimate immediacy. (shrink)

The article aims at showing that the philosophical personalism of Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) stems from the common sense approach to reality. First, it presents Karol Wojtyla as a framer of the Lublin Philosophical School, to which he was affiliated for 24 years before being elected Pope John Paul II; it shows Wojtyla’s role in establishing this original philosophical School by his contribution to its endorsement of Thomism, its way of doing philosophy, and its classically understood personalism. Secondly, (...) it identifies a purpose of Wojtyla’s use of the phenomenological method in his personalism and reconstructs Wojtyla’s possible answer to the question whether there is a link between moral sense and common sense in human experience. (shrink)

There is some debate among interpreters of Aquinas as to whether he attributed a doctrine of creation to Plato and Aristotle. Mark Johnson has noted many texts where Aquinas does appear to attribute to Plato and Aristotle an understanding of creation. Yet, an initial glance at Summa Theologiae I.44.2 would suggest he did not. This paper first examines what various interpreters of Aquinas have had to say on the matter. Secondly, it argues that Summa Theologiae I.44.2, taken in context with (...) the proceeding article and De Potentia III.5, need not be read as denying such a doctrine to Plato and Aristotle. Thirdly, this paper concludes that because Plato and Aristotle do not actually possess doctrines of creation, they cannot be the chief sources for Aquinas’ own thought on this matter. Instead, to attribute creation to Plato and Aristotle, Aquinas interprets them through Avicenna. Thus, Avicenna is the chief source for Aquinas’ understanding of creation. (shrink)

Today, academic studies on religions are dominated by sociology, the science of religion, and the history of religion. Not many researchers are philosophers. One can therefore say that philosophy is on the periphery of those studies. However, to understand religions, even the most precise descriptions of particular communities, their functioning, and their impact on individuals and society, are not enough. In order to learn why people join them, it is also necessary to examine their doctrines. Although theologians have long studied (...) them, their research has met with serious accusations: theology was deemed unscientific, and theologians – not impartial. On the other hand, a philosopher can study religious doctrines without fear of such charges, as philosophy limits itself to rational considerations, does not refer to revealed truths, and does not proclaim any concept of salvation. In this text, I show what results the philosophical research of religious doctrines leads to, taking as an example doctrines of religious movements, which – in the opinion of their creators – constitute an alternative to Christianity. With the help of philosophy, the criteria for distinguishing religion/Christianity from a religious movement can be narrowed down to the inconsistencies in the doctrines of these movements and their general, irrational nature. This can be verified by pointing out serious errors, which are mostly the result of the founders’ own interpretation of biblical texts. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the sociological analysis of power relations in terms of the concept of the network society. It starts with a discussion on the network approach and its understanding in social sciences. The author analyzes several mediating notions such as social network, power, structure, language, and collectivity grounded in the sociological approach. Further analysis leads to the discussion of power relations in technologically developed societies. The author searches for answers to many fundamental questions to open up avenues for (...) building a coherent network theory. To achieve these goals, she uses a sociological approach that is based mainly on the criticism of writing and the analytical and synthetic methods. (shrink)

Thomistic metaphysics has been challenged on the grounds that its principles are inconsistent with our experiences of divine action and of our own subjectivity. Challenges of this sort have been raised by Eastern Christian thinkers in the school of Gregory Palamas and by contemporary Personalists; they propose alternative metaphysics to explain these experiences. Against these objections and against those Thomists who hold that Thomas Aquinas’ claims exclude Byzantine and Personalist metaphysics, I argue that Thomas’ metaphysical principles already have “flexibility” built (...) into them, such that they can accommodate ways that reality is given in experience, which Thomas did not consider. I argue for this claim using the work of Byzantine and Personalist Thomists, and especially of Jacques Maritain, who outlines several ways in which Thomistic metaphysical principles can be expanded to explain experiences that he did not consider. (shrink)

While the Catholic intellectual tradition upholds the uniqueness of humans, much contemporary scientific research has come to the opposing conclusion that humans are not significantly different from other animals. To engage in robust dialogue around the question of human uniqueness, we utilize Aquinas’s model of disputatio to focus on an attribute of human beings that is unexplored in the literature – namely, the human capacity to garden – and address five scientific and philosophical objections to our position that the capacity (...) to garden makes humans distinct. Engaging with various branches of science, we demonstrate that human capacities and modes of gardening are not only incrementally different, but also fundamentally different in kind, from those of nonhuman creatures. Philosophically, we utilize the power-object model of division and Aristotle’s categorization of knowledge to express the difference in kind between human beings and other animals. These responses allow us to set aside each major objection. (shrink)

This article deals with the philosophical foundations of communication education. At the beginning, the author points out that communication skills are an important issue. For a long time, researchers have been wondering about the good qualities of public speaking, as well as what qualities a speaker should have in order to convey knowledge, and the importance of communication skills in social life and individual development. Then the author shows what communication education is understood as, on the one hand, the ability (...) to transfer knowledge, and on the other hand, teaching to communicate clearly and purposefully. In the next step, the author indicates the differences between the rhetorical approach and the relational approach to communication, and then points to the rules of discourse and emphasizes the importance of a realistic philosophy focused on presenting the truth in accordance with the good of the recipient. Finally, she indicates the consequences of the approach to communication detached from the real and intersubjective reality and shows what responsibility therefore lies on the part of the teacher, as the one who is supposed to bring students closer to the truth. (shrink)

Soon after Charles Darwin proposed his theory of the origin of species (1859), Catholic theologians set out to harmonize the evolutionary account with the traditional Christian doctrine of creation. While there have been several attempts at achieving this, all of them encountered philosophical or theological problems. After Humani Generis (1950), the debate among Catholic scholars shifted to questions related to polygenism and the propagation of original sin. In this paper, we show that these new theories adopted philosophically or theologically problematic (...) concepts of hominization. We also argue that there is ample paleontological evidence from anatomy and tool-making to support the claim that the so-called fossil hominids should be categorized as either apes or human beings (Homo sapiens). This postulate invites a new look at human origins, one that remains compatible with modern science as well as traditional theology and metaphysics. (shrink)

Our whole discussion has focused on man’s self-fulfillment in and through the marital union. The mutual self-donation of man and woman is a participative act in that whenever acting is performed ‘together with the other,’ the husband and wife transcend themselves in action and thereby realize the authentically personalistic value of the action and man’s self-fulfillment in it. This mutual self-giving of husband and wife finds its expression in and through the body. This self-fulfillment, however, is attained only when the (...) husband and wife become responsible for each other and meet the demands of the personalistic norm. The marital union must adapt itself to the objective demands of the personalistic norm, without which the act of mutual love between husband and wife is degraded to the ‘utilitarian’ level. The structure of responsibility which demands reference to the object in accordance with its true value must be satisfied. (shrink)

The article shows the lost paradigms of human nature. It is also a sign of concern for respect for human dignity. The source of reflection is the thought written in the latest catechetical documents and the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. The aim of the article is to recall theoretical assumptions important in catechetical ministry and to research for practical guidelines for their implementation. This goal is done through three points. The first is a reference to the philosophical and (...) theological foundations that determine human dignity. The next step is to consolidate catechetical paradigms that express concern for the right view of man and his dignity. The third element is research for specific actions to promote human dignity. All considerations are interdisciplinary. His main thoughts and conclusions are the space of theological sciences. However, the issue raised requires the correlation of theological content with philosophical premises. (shrink)

There have been two trends in the study of technology. On the one hand, critics of technology have emphasised the threats stemming from the development and use of advanced machines and devices, while on the other hand, there has been admiration for the successes brought by progress. The article presents an attempt to put this complex issue in order. Based on the analysis formulated by Andrew Feenberg, the text discusses four concepts of technology. The first of them is technical determinism, (...) according to which technology in its development is independent of circumstances external to it. The second is substantive theory, in which technology is seen as an autonomous, independent force that dominates and subordinates everything. The third position is instrumentalism, which considers technique as a neutral tool, while moral evaluation can only concern whether it has been used well or badly. The last approach is constructivism, according to which technology is shaped by the influence of various interest groups. (shrink)

On the Art is a polemical treatise in the Hippocratic Corpus that has been dated to 450 – 400 BCE. As a polemical work, the author defends the existence of medicine against detractors. I argue that the author employs two arguments for scientific realism in defense of medicine that are among the earliest known. First, I situate the work in the context of the sophistic movement and the nomos vs. physis debate. Second, I analyze the two arguments in On the (...) Art II, and I argue by contraposing spatiotemporalist, constructivist, and realist interpretations of the passage that the author grapples with the semantic stretch of the word εἶδος. Thereafter, I propose the arguments are best understood as indispensability arguments in which medical realism is defended in order to explain clinical practice. (shrink)

According to Étienne Gilson, an endless reproduction of the technical aspects of a work of art can modify not only the aesthetic experience of which it is an object, but also the culture it is embedded in. Since industrialization of a cultural product in the form of the internet is a means of generating mass culture, questions could be raised regarding its sources and effects. This article offers three assumptions: 1) the internet, together with its content and actions taken by (...) internet users, is a source of fear of experiencing cybercrime; 2) experiencing cybercrime is a result of using the internet; 3) in mass culture, the aesthetic experience has been replaced by the experience of fear. In order to address the titular question, I performed comparative analyses of EU citizens’ opinions on the basis of the Eurobarometer study conducted in EU countries (2013-2020) relating to the social perception of cybercrime, treated as a source of experiencing fear, and the level of their personal experience. A secondary quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collected data were performed, and a comparative method was used. (shrink)

The issue of intentionality is one of the pivotal points in the theory of knowledge. Depending on how intentionality is understood, one can be a realist, a nominalist, or an idealist. For that reason, modern Thomists widely discuss this theme. The four different positions in this debate are: the first three, which are considered reductive views are: “identity view of representationalism,” “direct realism,” and “similarity theory.” The fourth is considered a non-reductive view and can be called primitive intentionality theory. The (...) paper concludes that the most adequate way to understand intentionality is a non-reductive view, not exactly the same as the “primitive intentionality theory,” but rather a view that considers esse intentionale as a metaphysical mode of being which solves the question of the existence of known objects. (shrink)

The recent resurrection and rediscovery of Gilson’s early political writings broaden the traditional view of Gilson by allowing us to see him as a serious, engaged, political thinker. This essay traces the background of Gilson’s early political thought, the beginnings of a dramatic change both in Gilson’s activity and writings in the late 1920s, possible reasons for that change, and focuses on Gilson’s Pour un ordre catholique [For the Establishment of a Catholic Order]. This emblematic work of Gilson’s early political (...) thought, which is a practical application of his Christian philosophy, remains relevant to addressing serious religious and political issues confronting Catholics today. (shrink)

The Aristotelian and Thomistic conception of magnanimity (magnanimitas) has grown on the grounds of the philosophical understanding of high culture in man. It was preceded by the appearance of such concepts as paidéia and kalokagathía. Having ethical excellence (kalokagathía) is an indispensable condition for self-worth and justified pride, called by Aristotle magnanimity. For Aristotle, magnanimity was a typical virtue of the group of valor, in which striving for the good connected with difficulties is significant. Greek culture in antiquity, whose ideals (...) were focused on the term paidéia, had a significant impact on the thought and culture of early Christianity, which grew on Hellenistic grounds. We will see St. Thomas’ conception of magnanimity by analyzing his reflections on virtue as he listed it among the ingredients of the virtue of valor. Considerations of magnanimity can be combined with the explanation of what is high culture in man. The realistic concept of a person revealed that—because of transcendence—the ultimate goal, the end of human cognition and love is perfection. Such an understanding of holiness is synonymous with the highest development of the human person, meaning the state of man that is fully perfect. Man reaches the peak of his development potential, the highest level of culture, when he is united with God. (shrink)

Philosophy of culture as a discipline exploring the way of human existence in the world is based on general metaphysics and philosophical anthropology. Taking into account the formal subject and the method, philosophy of culture is a type of metaphysical explanation that aims to indicate the final ontological reasons for the existence of culture, and therefore it is called the “metaphysics of culture.” The metaphysical perspective of explaining the phenomenon of culture is an original contribution to the contemporary discourse on (...) culture. The understanding of culture requires solving the dispute about the understanding of the world, and above all about the understanding of human being. It is only in such a broad perspective that a fact of culture can be justified by pointing to its causative, exemplary and deliberate cause. In this context, the special attractiveness of the metaphysics of culture is revealed, which, paradoxically, manifests itself in the lack of autonomy in relation to general metaphysics and philosophical anthropology. Thanks to this, explanation of a fact of culture is placed in the field of cognitive realism, pluralism and in the context of understanding human being as a person. In this way, the metaphysics of culture provides a final justification (in the ontic order) of a fact of culture, while culture, as an intellectualization of nature, can form the basis for the particular aspects present in such rich forms in the area of the particular sciences. (shrink)

This study examines the concepts of rhetoric used in ancient times, using a process of research based upon “Interpretivist Research Philosophy”. Common thinking among rhetoricians and philosophers in general argues that one concept of rhetoric was utilized. This paper argues that there were at least three concepts of rhetoric known in Antiquity. Each was unique in its own right and contributed to what was to be a new body of knowledge. Research conclusions stem from a study of the works of (...) ancient authors, including Plato and Aristotle, and from schools of philosophies, including the writings of Stoics and Sophists. The reviewed literature supports the thesis presented in this paper that at least three concepts of rhetoric were known and used. (shrink)

This article concerns the way of philosophizing by Karol Wojtyła; a special emphasis is put on the relation between philosophical anthropology and ethics in his thought. The Polish thinker was active in both of them and it seems initially that ethics was his main area of expertise. However, a close examination of select works of Wojtyła confirms that philosophical anthropology was his main field. He was interested in how the person is revealed in his acts, including moral acts. Thus, the (...) person as such remains at the center of attention and reflection of the thinker and his involvement in ethics was to demonstrate how that person matures on the dynamic level. Karol Wojtyła is pre-eminently a philosopher of the human person. (shrink)

This paper is a review of the book by Rémi Brague, titled The Law of God. A Philosophical History of the Alliance, in which he aims to analyze the concept of divine law, assuming „[...] that human activity is based on norms derived from a divine source.” The author analyses this concept historically and philosophically, and thus searches for its historical conditions and reasons for its existence. Focusing mainly on the Middle Ages, he undertakes a critique of modern times and (...) the modern concept of law, according to which it is merely a convention. He stresses that in pre-modern times law was treated as objective, because it was given by God and was closely connected with religion. Such understanding of law was common in all traditions, the history of which the author is following, and it constitutes the very foundation of European culture. In spite of certain differences in interpreting the idea of law, resulting from differences in the doctrines of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, on the grounds of all of them law possesses divine features—as determined and revealed by God, eternal and inherent to the nature of being. (shrink)

The response to the special 2019 issue of Studia Gilsoniana on economics was so positive that it led to the creation of the Aquinas School of Leadership School of Economics (ASLSE). This 2021 publication is, therefore, a second special issue of Studia Gilsoniana on the same theme and the second installment of ASLSE’s economic journals. We are delighted to present here further fruits of thought from the maturing Studia Gilsoniana and ASLSE partnership. Economics is held to be a value-free, scientific (...) enterprise, and as such there can be no relationship between economics and religion. Ayn Rand, a well-known novelist-turned-philosopher, took this position in an unapologetic way in her writings, specifically in her novel Atlas Shrugged. The contrary position to what we might call the Randian “strict separation” thesis holds that economics and religion are related, in some way and to some degree, and therefore should be considered in tandem. The papers in this special edition of Studia Gilsoniana set out to show the extent and quality of the relationship between economics and religion from a variety of viewpoints and historical periods. (shrink)

Ayn Rand, through her character Fransisco d’Anconia in Atlas Shrugged, taught that the Apostle Paul is wrong when he says money is a root of all kinds of evil. Instead, she argues that money is perhaps the greatest invention of humanity and is the foundation of civilization. In this article, Dr. Anderson challenges Rand’s understanding of good and evil first by comparing d’Anconia to Thrasymachus and then by considering good and evil in the Biblical Worldview. These connections make it possible (...) to see how economics and religion are closely connected through basic assumptions about reality and our highest good. Without knowing our highest good we cannot make sense of either religion or economics. (shrink)

This paper reaffirms the truth of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church (CSD) and its impact in the socioeconomic sphere in Western Civilization. Specifically, it seeks to put in order the chaos in which secularized European society currently finds itself. Through Archbishop Giampaolo Crepaldi’s interpretation of CSD, the author dispels erroneous notions of collectivism surrounding private property, productive work, solidarity, and subsidiarity by arguing that a proper understanding of these principles supports a healthy capitalism, which in turn supports human (...) dignity. Only through a capitalism in line with a proper understanding of CSD principles can the poor stand to gain the most, provided they have a socioeconomic framework in which they can independently thrive. Liberation theology as a cornerstone of a socioeconomic framework destroys the foundation the Church established through the centuries. In the interpretation of the relationship between the CSD and the capitalist economy provided by this paper, the concept of private property emerges as the central nucleus of any human operation, be it cultural, economic, social, or political. Ownership does not only mean possessing material things, but also spiritual elements. Thus ownership also means identity, of a person and of a people. As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, the ideology of political correctness—that is, the ideology of the various cultural and political movements of the left—condemns identity as dangerous, a condemnation which furthers the operation of globalization, the homogenization of humanity, and the related attempt to weaken nations in view of a supranational management. If identity is one of the consequences of the concept of property, then this latter must also be banned, as an obstacle on the way to that global dis-identification that would herald a socialization of the Western world. But from the perspective of the main spiritual foundation of the West, that is, of the Judeo-Christian tradition, property is one of the pillars of society, and therefore cannot be suppressed or even undermined. The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, founded by Pope Leo XIII and relaunched by Pope John Paul II, is an excellent antidote to the ideological poison of socialism and progressivism now wide-spread in all Western countries. (shrink)

A cultural infrastructure of shared morality is necessary for the success of market economics. Traditional views maintain that religion is the nurturing source of the morality, which grows in the culture. The Progressive revolution aims to overturn Traditional morality and impose its social justice morality on culture. This article dissects and critiques the multifaceted Progressive revolution in the United States, while contrasting it with the Traditional view. It argues that the ultimate aim of the Progressive revolution is to redefine the (...) human person through identity politics as a collective entity, which essentially liquidates the individual, conforms the person to social justice morality, and establishes socialistic economics. (shrink)

Well known to students of St. Thomas Aquinas is that he maintained that the whole of a science is contained in its principles and that its principles are contained in its definitions. The author takes as his point of departure for this article a definition of money that he gave in the article he wrote for the 2019 Aquinas School of Leadership’s School of Economics inaugural issue for the Studia Gilsoniana: “Aristotle and Aquinas on the Virtue of Money as a (...) Preservative of Justice in Business Affairs and States.” According to him, as a species of economic activity, the definition of money must contain what Aquinas considered to be his generic definition of the science of economics and the essential principles he thought this definition contains. The present article he writes is an attempt to unpack some implications contained in St. Thomas’s generic definition of the science of economics of which money is a species. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to examine how three very different Chicago economists, Milton Friedman, Frank H. Knight, and John U. Nef, Jr., handled the question of God and religion. The author shows that for each of these three figures, their stance on religion set limits on the effectiveness of their intellectual efforts in the public sphere of their university, the larger academic community, and American society.

In Japan, the ideal of economic practice has long been rooted in a native Shintō-inspired religious sensibility according to which the world is populated by a myriad of deities (yaoyorozu no kami; lit., “the eight million gods”). This engenders an understanding of the other in an economic transaction as having a transcendent nature, and of the household and wider society as a fortiori transcending (both spiritually and diachronically) the individual economic actor. In turn, the transcendent view of the human person (...) has nurtured a person-centered approach to economic activity in Japan. The author examines three iterations of Japanese spiritually-inflected economic activity—the Ōmi merchants, the Shingaku teachings of Ishida Baigan, and the “unity of economic and moral practice” views of Shibusawa Eiichi and later business ethics thinkers—to show that, regardless of specific creed, Japanese economic thinking tends to reproduce the understanding of economic activity as ideally beneficial for human persons. By viewing the human person as an end and never as a means—an anthropology which is ultimately Shintōist, although broadly compatible with other beliefs—the standard economic actor in Japan works for the betterment of his counterpart and of society as a whole. This human-centered approach should and can be replicated in other countries around the world. (shrink)

Inspired by Sara Ahmed’s notion of ‘queer use,’ I present and extend a neo-Aristotelian theory of artifacts to capture what I call ‘counter-use.’ The theory of artifacts is based on the idea that what they are, how they come to be, and what their functions are cannot be understood independently from each other. They come to exist when a maker imposes the concept of their substantial kind onto some matter by working on the matter to make an artifact of that (...) kind out of it. The extensions to this core theory that I describe are two. First, I show how using can be a kind of making and how disparate users may form what Benedict Anderson calls an imagined community. Second, I describe what I call an artifact’s historicity and suggest that, like its substantial kind, an artifact’s historicity is essential to it. On this basis, I characterize counter-use as use of an artifact by an imagined community that re-arranges an object’s historicity and hence brings into existence a numerically distinct object. Thus, politically motivated counter-use has genuine ontological implications. (shrink)

What is it, metaphysically, for a universal to be instantiated in a concrete particular? Philosophical controversy has been ongoing since the beginning of philosophy itself. I here contribute a novel account of instantiation developed on the basis of Aristotelian premises (but departing from the mainstream interpretation according to which Aristotelian universals are instantiated by ‘combining’ hylomorphically with matter). The key stance is that for Aristotle each substance is one, i.e. single (in addition to also being a non-recurrent particular). I show (...) that for Aristotle, the oneness of substances is primitively assumed, and, importantly, cannot be derived from composition of parts, not even holistic composition. Parts undermine oneness. It follows that instantiated properties are 'not parts' of substances. However, if not parts of the substances they are in, what are they? Aristotle shows they are 'qualifications' of the substances they are in. Don’t qualifications undermine the singleness of a substance? I show that Aristotle makes sure they do not. The way he does it is new, then and now. Instantiated properties are ‘hybrid’ entities: they sacrifice their own discreteness 'qua' properties, while adopting the discreteness of the metaphysical subject they qualify, i.e. the substance. But then, how can a universal quality recur in many substances, if, when instantiated, it assimilates the discreteness of each of these substances? This is a key Aristotelian stance: 'the quality recurs, not its qualifications'. Qualities are abstracted from their instances in similar objects, e.g. ‘wisdom’ is abstracted from many ‘wise’ people; ‘wisdom’ is individuated bottom-up from its instances, by abstraction. (shrink)

Etienne Gilson was convinced that a multidisciplinary core curriculum was essential to educate scholars properly about the Middle Ages. Having failed to interest universities on both sides of the Atlantic in his vision, he was elated in1927 to find that the priests at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto were eager to implement his approach. Although enrollment was hindered by both the Great Depression of the 1930s and the subsequent Second World War, Gilson’s Institute of Mediaeval Studies (“Pontifical” (...) since 1939) produced a significant number of medievalists who had immersed themselves in the full Gilsonian curriculum: palaeography, sources of history, philosophy, theology, medieval science, law, art, and literature. For three decades PIMS was the only institution devoted exclusively to mediaeval studies. In the post-War era, however, a number of universities founded centres for medieval studies, but they reverted to the pre-Gilsonian concentration on specialization in one discipline. The sheer number of those programs, together with financial difficulties at PIMS, relegated Gilson’s dream of a multidisciplinary curriculum at PIMS to history. The Pontifical Institute has successfully implemented a smaller program of Manuscript Studies, and its library continues to attract scholars from both North America and Europe. (shrink)

The paper addresses the matter of differences of aesthetic judgment by examining Shakespeare’s Tempest through the Thomistic understanding of substance and of beauty. It seeks principally to explore three elements of aesthetic inquiry: (1) what characterizes the subject who perceives beauty? (2) what characterizes the object of aesthetic experience? and (3) how do aesthetic judgments differ from sensual perceptions? The Tempest serves as particularly fruitful territory for such exploration in virtue of the persons of Miranda and Caliban, who by the (...) limitations of their experience delineate the generic borders, the degrees of virtual quantum excellence, which characterize the beautiful object. Their education at the hand of Prospero likewise elucidates somewhat the process of aesthetic training. (shrink)

The paper deals with the specific nature of research in realistic metaphysics by Andrzej Maryniarczyk. The first part presents the method of realistic metaphysics, i.e., metaphysical separation, which constitutes the basic method of forming the understanding of being. The second part focuses on the characteristics of the system of metaphysics as a cognitive response to the existence of reality. The third part concentrates on the metaphysical theory of creation ex nihilo, showing the essential aspects of this theory. All the presented (...) issues constitute important complements, which integrate the metaphysics practiced by A. Maryniarczyk into a whole. (shrink)

Against the background of the model of the metaphysics of the person (presented in the article “The Existential Metaphysics of the Person. Part 1: The Classical Concept of the Person and the Metaphysical Theory of Esse,” Studia Gilsoniana 10, no. 2) which was initiated by Thomas Aquinas and developed in the Lublin Philosophical School, this paper focuses on the attempt to show the philosophical breakthrough that the concept of personal existence can bring, and points out the most important theoretical consequences (...) of adopting this theory in metaphysics. It outlines the elements of a new metaphysics of the person, based on the concept of personal existence, and hypothesizes about the metaphysical turn this concept could make. The investigations undertaken in the paper lead to the conclusion that not all inferences have yet been drawn from the concept of esse personale, and that the entire depth of the metaphysics of existence has not yet been explored. (shrink)

I respond to Michał Chaberek’s and Robert A. Delfino’s criticisms of my argument that evolution is compatible with Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics. Biological species, as secondary substances, are beings of reason founded in the natures of their instances. They are traceable to God’s creative intent, but not to universal exemplars. Aquinas teaches that concepts are derived from sensible accidents. Thus, evolution’s directed variation of such accidents will eventually require new species concepts. This accords with projective realism, which allows diverse, well-founded concepts based (...) on the multiple perspectives and conceptual spaces of knowing subjects. Charges that this is nominalism, not moderate realism, are rebutted; however, it is relativism because knowledge is a subject-object relation. Other metaphysical issues are considered. Chaberek’s thesis that species cannot evolve naturally fails because he: (1) reifies the species concept, (2) misrepresents the motivation, structure and conclusions of evolution, (3) confuses Aristotle’s four causes and (4) limits God’s creative omnipotence. Finally, Chaberek is out of step with contemporary theology. (shrink)

“Philosophical, Theological and Affective Reasons for Vocation”: The article deals with the problem of justifying a vocation. The arguments used to justify the existence of God were used for this. It has been shown that for the existence of a vocation one can present natural (philosophical), supernatural (theological) and affective (experimental) reasons. The supernatural reasons are necessary and sufficient for understanding the vocation; natural and affective reasons are helpful, but they do not ultimately determine the existence of a vocation.

The subject of interest of the philosophy (metaphysics) of law developed by Mieczysław A. Krąpiec is the existence of natural law, the ways in which the content of this law is formulated, the basis of established law and justice, the relationship between established law and natural law, and the conditions of law’s implementation in various communities. Krąpiec proposed, firstly, a realistic interpretation of law as a real and interpersonal relation; secondly, a concept of the analogical natural law; and thirdly, the (...) interpretation of human rights as ways of realizing the personal nature of the human being—as the ways which are found in the social context and proclaimed particularly in the form of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Concerning the philosophy of politics, Krąpiec considered the issue of the sovereignty of the human person in relation to sovereignty of society, nation, and the State, as well as the issue of politics understood as the realization of the common good in a prudent manner. Krąpiec also referred to the Polish tradition of defending the rights of nations, thus building the foundations of the philosophy of nation. (shrink)

This paper is a review of Christopher C. Knight’s book, Science and the Christian Faith. According to the author, Knight’s book sheds light on the wide differences between Orthodox and western theology and applies Orthodox-inspired perspectives to explaining many key aspects and terms, such as the fall and its ramifications, miracles, grace, the sacraments, the western distinction between the natural and the supernatural, and the link between the Logos and the logoi. The author concludes that Knight’s book is an attempt (...) to show that the Orthodox vision of the universe is not in competition with science. (shrink)

This article discusses the problem of gift from the perspective of philosophical personalism. Since there are different doctrines of gift, it first provides an overview of anthropological, sociological, philosophical, ethical, and religious approaches to the nature of gift. Then, it delineates the essential notes of the gift and its structure, and relates the gift to duties of justice. Finally, it shows that the gift constitutes an anthropological transcendental that helps us to better understand man and his supernatural dimension.

This paper uses the philosophical methods employed by Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey to formulate pragmatism’s basic ideas about education. The ideas proposed by the pragmatists are also used to compare and define their relationship between each other in order to create a new philosophy (theory) of democratic education. Based on the assumptions of pragmatism to show democracy in education, the paper explains the application of pragmatism to educational reform in Vietnam today. For pragmatism is to be (...) what unites education. (shrink)

Jorge J. E. Gracia, was born in Cuba in 1942. At age 19, he escaped Cuba and arrived in the United States. In 2019, 58 years later, in a nation which, prior to his arrival in North America, had no major Latino cultural presence in higher education and philosophy, Gracia rose to hold the Samuel P. Capen Chair and State University of New York at Buffalo Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature. In this position, he became the leading figure (...) to institutionalize Latin American philosophy in the U.S. academy and an internationally-renowned scholar in medieval philosophy. Jorge J. E. Gracia died in the United States on July 13, 2021. In this paper the author shows that what properly explains the philosophical and adult-personal life of Gracia is the Thomistic principle of virtual quantity. He contends that the only way to understand Gracia’s personal and philosophical life is to grasp this life as one of an organizational psychologist pursuing perfect self-realization in action and understanding: someone chiefly interested in intellectually grasping precisely how organizational wholes (including his own psyche) become united and divided, and operate when so united and divided. (shrink)

Joshua Hochschild credits John Paul II for the success of the expression “meaning of life” among Christians, but he warns that this expression stems from a modern framework different from classical theism. Hochschild’s criticism challenges theists to clarify how the quest for meaning channels the basic questions of classic theism while advancing new ones. First, I will propose a different historical reconstruction of the “meaning of life,” tracing its origin back to the medieval sensus and its use in Biblical hermeneutics. (...) Second, I will show that existentialism and phenomenology are the heirs of this legacy, and their use of the “meaning of life” is mostly positive. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI adopted this expression under their influence. Finally, I will argue that the theistic quest for the “meaning of life” addresses classic questions such as happiness and the purpose of human life in the universe, and raises new questions regarding the individual purpose, the history of salvation, and the narrative of life. (shrink)

The author discusses the problem of separation as the base method of metaphysical cognition as approached by the Lublin Philosophical School representatives. He begins by showing the sources of the method, seeing them in St. Thomas Aquinas’s intuitions which were discovered only in the 20th century by those who developed the existential interpretation of Aquinas’s metaphysics (J. Maritain, É. Gilson, M. A. Krąpiec). In this context, the author draws attention to the achievements of the creators and co-creators of the Lublin (...) Philosophical School. They made an exceptional contribution to high-lighting the very bases of the separation method and its significance for the entire metaphysical cognition. From the perspective of metaphysics, the foremost and crucial is the application of separation for identifying the object of metaphysical cognition. At stake here is the determination of the first cognitive apprehension—that is, the grasp of what the intellect cognizes as the first (primum cognitum) and what was called in the tradition “being as being” or “the concept of being.” The separation method allows, first of all, to consider the existential aspect of being in cognitive apprehensions, which is accomplished in the three stages that start with and are based on the analysis of existential judgments. Next, the author describes the application of the separation method in other domains of existential cognition, showing how indispensable the method is in preserving such inherent features of this type of cognition as transcendentalness, directness, realism, and analogicalness. (shrink)

Jacques Maritain criticized Husserl’s phenomenological method—the ἔποχή—as being incompatible with the realism of St. Thomas Aquinas. Maritain equated phenomenology with idealism, holding that it universally negates the existence of known objects as things in the world. Not surprisingly, then, a tendency has arisen in the thought of Thomists commenting on Karol Wojtyła’s phenomenological-Thomism to distance Wojtyła’s method from that of Husserl. However, since Wojtyła himself saw fit to appropriate the phenomenological method, Thomists will do well to reevaluate Husserl’s ἔποχή. This (...) study shows that Husserl’s phenomenology is formulated as an Aristotelian science, consciously presupposing the existence of its subject matter and not universally negating the existence of known objects as things in the world. The ἔποχή, thus, is compatible with the realism of the Angelic Doctor, and the phenomenological-Thomism of Karol Wojtyła stands on firm realist ground. (shrink)

"A New Concept of ‘Person’ in Wojtylian Philosophy: A Phenomenological and Metaphysical Analysis of The Acting Person”: This article discusses Karol Wojtyła’s study on the concept of “person” and its anthropological foundations. It refers to his great book: The Acting Person, in which Wojtyła approaches the reality of the person from the perspective of the person’s action. The article shows that, in his book, Wojtyła goes beyond classical Thomism by following the great intuitions of Personalism and Phenomenology and putting them (...) at the service of an adequate anthropology that does justice to the reality of the person. Then it examines Wojtyła’s claims about: (1) the person as a source of validation of moral experience, (2) experience as a source of knowledge, (3) consciousness and the efficient causality of the person, (4) the transcendence of the person in action (self-determination), (5) the integration of the person in action, and finally (5) the person’s subjectivity and irreducibility. The article is aimed at delivering a framework to elaborate a metaethics that would contribute to the human person’s happiness and fulfillment. (shrink)

Zamoyska presented reflections unique for the European social thought. She identified with philosophical and religious views considering work as the fundamental manner of fulfilling man’s individual and social life. However, from the standpoint of a practical human life, these ideas lacked an important factor. And namely, showing precisely the way of performing work itself. Thus, work requires employing an appropriate method, which translates directly into the practice of human life. And she did not mean a narrowly conceived method, concerning selected (...) jobs or some kind of man’s professional activities. The suggested method referred to work which every man needs to undertake in order to fulfill his or her life. It concerned work which enables men to fulfill themselves in the most fundamental dimension as humans. This is accomplished by man undertaking systematically three kinds of work throughout their life: physical, intellectual and spiritual. They are interdependent and mutually complementary, this is why none of them may be excluded during human life. Only their parallel continuation ensures man’s harmonious development. The suggested method is universal since it concerns the way of performing work as a factor conditioning the fulfillment of human life. Thereby, her considerations on the method of work bring new meaning into the field of practical philosophy. (shrink)

"Caring for Authority in Education in Faith in the Face of Some Contemporary Cultural Challenges”: The author tries to answer the question: What should be done in the contemporary socio-cultural context to help educators in faith retain their authority? Firstly, he presents the classical understanding of authority. Secondly, he describes contemporary cultural challenges to authority in education. Thirdly, he analyzes specific qualities of educators in religious faith.

This paper is a review of the book On the Metaphysical Cognition by Stanisław Kamiński, one of the founders of the Lublin School of Philosophy (Poland) which refers to the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition. The book consists of a selection of Kamiński’s five articles devoted to the specificity of metaphysical cognition. According to the author, Kamiński’s book is not only a unique contribution to the understanding of cognition in classical metaphysics, but also a valuable reading suggestion for all interested in the general (...) methodology of sciences and philosophy. (shrink)

This paper is a review of Roberto de Mattei’s book, La critica alla Rivoluzione nel pensiero di Augusto Del Noce [The Criticism of the Revolution in the Thought of Augusto Del Noce]. According to the author, de Mattei’s book acquaints the reader with Del Noce’s criticism of the destructive nature of revolution as that which stems from the ideas of modern philosophy and culminates in current politics and culture.

"Étienne Gilson: His Idea of Beauty and Art”: Two books of Étienne Gilson are especially important in the area of aesthetics: Painting and Reality and The Arts of the Beautiful. In my essay I discuss Gilson’s idea of beauty and his idea of art. To some degree, É. Gilson follows traditional Thomistic point of view, i.e., he claims that the beautiful is that which pleases when seen, or that which consists of integrity, proportion and clarity. He gives, however, a new (...) interpretation of clarity which, for him, means not only physical lucidity, but also a metaphysical radiation and spiritualization of what is material. As for art, É. Gilson is of an opinion that it enjoys a strong metaphysical status, since the existence of the work of art comes from the artist himself. Finally, I explain why É. Gilson’s views are open to further discussion, both metaphysical and theological. (shrink)

This paper investigates Denys Turner’s article, “On Denying the Right God: Aquinas on Atheism and Idolatry.” According to the author, Denys Turner’s account contributes to theist and atheist debates by treating the issue of whether God can be intelligibly comprehended with great emphasis.

Given how often physicists talk about beauty, the author tries to understand what they are talking about, what they mean, and whether or not there is any truth to what they are saying. The main questions he addresses are: When discussing the nature and beauty of physics, are we doing physics, science, psychology, or philosophy? And, does the meaning of the physicists’ acclamations actually line up with the true nature of beauty? The author concludes that there can be truth in (...) the statement that there is beauty in physics, and the physicists themselves would be able to say most authoritatively which theories are beautiful and which are not. (shrink)

"Dialectical Polarity between Freedom and Necessity in Economic Activity in the Light of the Work of Antonio Millán-Puelles": In the light of the work of Antonio Millán-Puelles, the article seeks to discuss the correlations between human needs, welfare and freedom in their most basic forms of economic praxis. The reason for such correlations lies in the corporeal mediation of economic activity which is already present at the level of their subsistence; this mediation is that on which the very fact of (...) economic experience depends. Following the phenomenology of economic activity, the article also discusses the consciousness of designing, previous to production, and the self-determination of a designer. It concludes that the correlations between human needs, welfare and freedom are all based on anthropology that does not reduce man to a mere body or a mere cogito. (shrink)

The article is the first part of a brief presentation of a research project aimed at introducing the concept of the existential metaphysics of the person—a contribution to classical anthropology based on so-called existential metaphysics. Firstly, it discusses the roots of this concept in the light of the classical concept of person and of the philosophical thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. In particular, it discusses Aquinas’s significant achievement in combining the philosophical-theological concept of the person with the metaphysical theory of (...) existence as an act of being (esse ut actus essendi). Secondly, it presents the theoretical model of the metaphysics of the person, developed in the Lublin Philosophical School in Poland, as a modernized version of Aquinas’s concept. The particular core of this theory is the concept of personal existence (esse personale), opening the way for new ground-breaking interpretations. (shrink)

The author first explains wisdom and its importance to moral philosophy. Secondly, he follows with a consideration of the nature of things and the soul as told by Lucretius. Then he presents a brief summary on St. Thomas understanding of soul and how his faculty psychology is a superior explanation of moral philosophy. The author concludes by showing how Lucretius’ ethical system fails and to attain true happiness we must take up a faculty psychology aimed at virtue and the perfection (...) of the soul, the principle form of the human person. (shrink)

This paper examines St. Thomas Aquinas’s and Immanuel Kant’s notions of measurement and judgment, particularly measuring and judging beauty, to demonstrate their respective conclusions about the highest achievement of man. For St. Thomas’s view, I draw from a variety of St. Thomas’s writings as well as rely on Peter Redpath’s research into St. Thomas’s understanding of measuring and judging. For Kant’s view, I focus on Kant’s perspective as written in The Critique of Judgement. In this paper, I argue that by (...) examining the way both St. Thomas and Kant measure and judge beauty, we can see that, for Kant, man’s highest achievement is to live the moral life, while for St. Thomas, man’s highest achievement is to know the good and God. Interestingly, for both philosophers, their conclusions about man’s highest achievements wind through their understanding of beauty and the way beauty is measured and judged. (shrink)

"Saint Bernard and Courtly Love": The author discusses the problem of whether there is any interrelation between Cistercian mysticism, in St. Bernard of Clairveaux’s time, and courtly love. He concludes that cortly love and the Cistercian conception of mystical love are two independent products of the civilization of the twelfth century. They express the different surroundings in which they were respectively born; the one codifying life as led in a princely court, and the other expressing what men make of it (...) in a Cistercian monastery. Undoubtedly the vocabulary of the one might be helped out with terms borrowed from the other, but since it is necessary to renounce the one of these loves before embracing the other it is not to be wondered at that no definite concept exists that is common to both. When Cistercian love would enter into profane literature it could do so only by driving out courtly love and taking its place. St. Bernard, in turn, may have largely contributed to the decadence of the courtly ideal, but never in him could it have found its inspiration. (shrink)

This article considers the nature of Marxism as a species of Enlightenment Utopian Socialism, the relation of both these to a denial of nature of common sense properly understood. It argues that underlying all species of Enlightenment Utopian Socialism are psychological principles that deny the reality of evidently known first principles of understanding that are measures of truth in all forms of psychologically healthy human knowing and reasoning. In addition, it maintains that, as a result of these essentially anarchic psychological (...) first principles inherent in its nature, any attempt to apply any species of Utopian Socialism to develop healthy social organizations and cultural institutions—such as forms of human communication and educational and political instittions—is doomed to fail. Utopian Socialism will always destroy common sense in whatever it infects with its disordered habits of understanding and reasoning. (shrink)