Personalism in the Lublin School of Philosophy (Card. Karol Wojtyła, Fr. Mieczysław A. Krąpiec)

• Main Author: Tomasz Duma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Étienne Gilson Society 2016-06-01
• Series: Studia Gilsoniana
• Subjects: Lublin School of Philosophy; Karol Wojtyła; Mieczysław Krąpiec; personalism; philosophy; metaphysics; person; man; experience; nature; culture
• Online Access: http://gilsonsociety.com/files/365-390-Duma.pdf

The article presents the conception of personalism and the understanding of human person developed by two Polish philosophers: Karol Wojtyła and Mieczysław A. Krąpiec, the framers and the main representatives of the Lublin School of Philosophy. The author comes to the following conclusions: (1) Wojtyła’s and Krąpiec’s conception of personalism comes from experience and seeks verification in experience; it does not accept any a priori explanations or theses, though it does not shy away from drawing upon different branches of knowledge in its attempts to broaden experience, being aware that not everything is given to immediate experiential perception; (2) Wojtyła’s and Krąpiec’s personalism wants to draw on the whole philosophical tradition, taking into account, at the same time, the findings of different sciences of man or humanities which broaden the experience of man or contribute something to the interpretation of experience; (3) bringing together genetic empiricism and methodical rationalism, Wojtyła and Krąpiec are able to avoid radicalism in the explanation of man, making a successful attempt to join in a complementary way these aspects of personal human being which carry some opposition; (4) Wojtyła’s and Krąpiec’s conception of person does not bear any traces of antagonism since it is not directed against anyone; in the light of this conception every human person has a character of the honest good which is the unconditional good, that is the highest and the ultimate good not competing with the value of anything else; (5) Wojtyła and Krąpiec prove that the conception of human person lies at the basis of understanding society, culture, ethics, law, politics, economy, art, and even religion.