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.
This article explores why authoritarian regimes create legislatures and then assesses their effect on economic growth and investment. In authoritarian regimes more dependent on domestic investment ...than natural resource revenue, the dictator creates a binding legislature as a credible constraint on the regime's confiscatory behavior. In regimes dependent on natural resource revenue, the nonbinding legislature serves as a mechanism for the dictator to bribe and split the opposition when he faces credible challenges to the regime. Using data from 121 authoritarian regimes from 1950 to 2002, the results indicate that binding legislatures have a positive impact on economic growth and domestic investment, while nonbinding legislatures have a negative impact on economic growth.
This paper analyzes Game Theory (GT) from the point of view of moral psychology and makes explicit some of its assumptions regarding the human person as a moral agent, as well as the ends of human ...action, and reciprocity. Using a largely philosophical methodology, we will argue that GT assumes an instrumental form of rationality underpinned by a logic of self-interest, hence placing individuals, communities, and their social practices in service of external goods and their maximization. Because of this, GT is not adequate to describe the entirety of human social existence and interaction. Nevertheless, by revealing these assumptions, GT can be amplified with another form of rationality based on realist ethics and a personalist anthropology reinforced by the logic of gift. This rationality values the singularity of each person as a holistic unity, as the center of the social realm and as an end in herself called to growth and flourishing with others, nurturing the human community through giving and receiving. We will thus provide a wider philosophical framework for GT with a series of non-mathematical axioms of what can be called a Game Metatheory (GMt). These axioms refer to society as a complex system, not to particular interactions. GMt axioms are not a model of social games, but rather an axiomatic description of social life as a game, revealing its systematic character, complexity, and possible deterioration.
What specific imprint does Christianity give to the philosophical elaboration of personalism? Initially, we introduce a reflective reread on Christian personalist thought in ongoing pedagogical ...discourse, in particular through the paradigmatic concept of hope. Returning to the traditional concept of ‘person’ and to its philosophical-ontological legacy, this essay discusses the dynamic of the teacher-student educational relationship. In this context, this paper attempts to show that the educator manifests his being a person of hope through his educative presence and respect for the promise.
This article tries to elaborate some insights from Michel de Certeau’s works on personalism, alterity and education. The aim is to add a poorly known voice to the contemporary debate around pedagogy ...and personalism. De Certeau’s original account of personhood, based on the movement of ‘alteration’ rather than on ‘identity’, is presented as original and useful to enrich the contemporary educational debate. The article firstly analyzes two texts where Certeau deals specifically with the role of alterity in educational contexts. The uncanny and ungraspable movement of ‘alteration’ will be shown as fundamental in the person’s formation. Secondly, it will be argued that such account of alterity is rooted in Certeau’s interpretation of the Christian tradition. Finally, it will be maintained the possibility of conceiving education itself as a process of ‘alteration’.
One of the central issues of contemporary philosophy concerns the definition of the person. Many philosophers and bioethicists have sought to determine the basis for ascribing personhood, and to ...resolve the associated question of whether only human beings may be properly granted this status. Two contemporary thinkers have played a leading role in this debate, namely Robert Spaemann and Peter Singer. The former, coming from the tradition of Christian thought, seeks to demonstrate that the personality of a human being begins when he or she is conceived and ends with his or her death. In his opinion, only God, as the source of all life, has a right to exercise authority over human destiny. The opposite position is defended by the Australian philosopher Peter Singer. His philosophical views have emerged from the tradition of empiricist thought initiated by Democritus and expanded on later, above all, by John Locke. Singer postulates a descriptive theoretical account of persons, claiming that personhood results from the possession of a set of qualitative features, namely: to become a person, a human being ought to have certain properties, such as self-awareness, rationality of thought, or the possession of preferences – without these, he would say, one cannot even talk about persons. This paper seeks to confront the tenets of personalist ethics (as in Spaemann) with those of preference-based utilitarianism (Peter Singer), presenting the metaphysical, ontological and cognitive commitments that make up these two positions, but also asking whether there is any shared set of underlying concerns that could furnish a basis for dialogue between them.
The key issue of this article is exposing the specificity of patriotism as well as its axiological conditions and requirements, understood in terms of personal commitment and love for the homeland, ...considered a gift and responsibility. In the personalist context of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński’s pastoral thought, the presentation of patriotism aims to depict this moral virtue as an essentially Christian value, which is expressed, first of all, in active care for the good and prosperity of the homeland, understood as a bonum commune. In this context, the author of the article formulates the fundamental question whether patriotism still exhibits constructive axiological potential, allowing to shape the socio-political and cultural reality of the contemporary world. This reflection also refers to the praxis of socio-political life, which is branded by an intense polarization of opinions not only concerning the homeland but also relating to the axiological values that define patriotism.
The article presents a philosophical analysis of the ethical identity of man as an exercise for today’s education. It consists of four parts. The first part focuses on the definition of ethical ...identity and its comparison with cultural identities. The other parts deal with the problem of cultural identities as a bearer of values, relevant to the consumer culture, such as change, visibility and predictability. Discussing these three values in the context of human moral actions allows a formulation of a conclusion about the need to focus education on ethical identity and to support these activities with humanistic education (in the field of philosophy, in particular). Furthermore, the article justifies that the very term “ethical identity”, if interpreted on the basis of classical metaphysics, can be an effective tool for pedagogical discourse. Therefore, attention is paid to the following key philosophical concepts: substantial unity of human being, man as the subject of human acts and freedom as a moral force.
U kontekstu europskih integracija rijetko se govori o velikom francuskom kršćanskom filozofu Jacquesu Maritainu i njegovom utjecaju na europski projekt sredinom 20. stoljeća. Ovim se radom želi ...donekle osvijetliti njegova, pomalo skrivena, uloga u ovom kontekstu, a osobito s obzirom na središnju ulogu slobode savjesti unutar personalističke filozofske baštine kojoj je Maritain pripadao i političke filozofije koju je oblikovao, a koja je imala ključan utjecaj na europski projekt i njegove temeljne dokumente. Sloboda savjesti ovdje se promatra kao zaglavni kamen svih ljudskih sloboda unatoč svim rizicima i komplikacijama koje to sa sobom nosi. U svim sukobima Države i savjesti potrebno je i poželjno uvijek ići u prilog savjesti ili barem naginjati političkim rješenjima koja poštuju ili barem ne preziru savjest osobe. Kad god se u takvim sukobima nađemo pred naizgled nerješivim problemima treba uvijek birati dijalog i pregovore umjesto nasilja i nametanja.
In the context of European integration, the great French Christian philosopher Jacques Maritain and his influence on the European project in the mid-20th century are mentioned very rarely. This paper seeks to shed some light on his somehow hidden role in this context, especially given the central role of freedom of conscience within the personalist philosophical heritage to which Maritain belonged and the political philosophy he shaped, which had a key impact on the European project and its basic documents. Freedom of conscience is seen here as the cornerstone of all human freedoms despite all the risks and complications that this entails. In all conflicts between the State and the conscience, it is necessary and desirable to always go in favour of the conscience or at least to lean towards political solutions that respect or at least do not despise the conscience of the person. Whenever we face seemingly unsolvable problems in such conflicts, dialogue and negotiation should always be chosen instead of violence and imposition.
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