Acting Person 9027709696, 9027709858

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CARDINAL KAROL WOJTYLA

THE ACTING PERSON Translated from the Polish by ANDRZEJ POTOCKI

This definitive text of the work established in collaboration with the author by ANNA-TERESA TYMIENIECKA

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D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY DORDRECHT : HOLLAND / BOSTON : U S A. LONDON : ENGLAND

ANALECTA HUSSERLIANA

THE YEARBOOK OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH

VOLUME X

Editor: Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka

The World Institute for Advanced Phenomenological Research and Learning

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data John Paul II, Pope, 1920The acting person.

UP

(Analecta Husserliana; v. 10) “Translated and revised from the 1969 Polish edition, Osoba i czyn.” “This definitive text of the work established in collaboration with the author by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka.” Includes index. 1. Act (Philosophy). 2. Personality. cal anthropology. 4. Phenomenology. I. Anna-Teresa. II. Title. III. Series. B3279.H94A129 vol. 10 [B105.A35] 142'.7s [128]

3. Philosophi¬ Tymieniecka, 78-31349

ISBN 90-277-0969-6 (library binding) ISBN 90-277-0985-8 (cheaper cloth binding)

Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17, Dordrecht, Holland Sold and distributed in the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Inc. Lincoln Building, 160 Old Derby Street, Hingham, Mass. 02043, U.S.A.

Translated and revised from the 1969 Polish edition, Osoba i Czyn, Polskie Towarzystwo Teologiczne, Cracow

All Rights Reserved This translation and edition copyright © 1979 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informational storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner Printed in The Netherlands

Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, later to become Pope John Paul II, giving a lecture on ‘Participation or Alienation?’ on 27 March 1975 in a follow-up session to the Fourth International Phenomenology Conference held in Fribourg, Switzerland, in January 1975. At the main conference, organized by the International Husserl and Phenom¬ enological Research Society, the lecture had been read in absentia.

PREFACE

Now that the present work is going to emerge from the limited readership to which it has so far been confined by the original language of composition, I would like to preface it with several introductory remarks. First of all, audacious though it may seem in the present day-in which philosophical thinking is not only nourished by, and based upon, history, but in which to “philosophize” often means to reflect upon theories about theories - the present work cannot be seen other¬ wise than as a personal effort by the author to disentangle the intricacies of a crucial state of affairs and to clarify the basic elements of the problems involved. I have, indeed, tried to face the major issues themselves concerning life, nature, and the existence of the human being - with its limitations as well as with its privileges - directly as they present themselves to man in his struggle to survive while maintaining the dignity of the human being: man, who sets himself goals and strives to accomplish them, and who is torn apart between his all too limited condition and his highest aspirations to set himself free. These struggles of the human being are reflected by the struggles of the author himself, who has attempted in the present work to unravel the subjacent apparatus of man’s operations as it may lead either to his victories or to his defeats; only as such should the present work be seen. May it contribute to this disentangling of the conflicting issues facing man, which are crucial for man’s own clarification of his existence and direction of his conduct. Our approach runs also counter to another trend of modern philoso¬ phy. Since Descartes, knowledge about man and his world has been identified with the cognitive function-as if only in cognition, and especially through knowledge of himself, could man manifest his nature and his prerogative. And yet, in reality, does man reveal himself in thinking or, rather, in the actual enacting of his existence? - in observing, interpreting, speculating, or reasoning (which are change¬ able, even flexible insofar as they are acts, and often futile when confronted with the facts of reality) or in the confrontation itself when

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PREFACE

he has to take an active stand upon issues requiring vital decisions and having vital consequences and repercussions? In fact, it is in reversing the post-Cartesian attitude toward man that we undertake our study: by approaching him through action. Considering the enormous spread of issues confronting the philoso¬ pher who seeks a new approach to the human being and who attempts to apply it, it is only natural that our work must at this point be too sketchy. We are perfectly aware of both past and present literature sharing this approach, but it appears to us imperative to undertake it in our own way. Granted the author’s acquaintance with traditional Aristotelian thought, it is however the work of Max Scheler that has been a major influence upon his reflection. In my overall conception of the person envisaged through the mechanisms of his operative systems and their variations, as presented here, may indeed be seen the Schelerian foundation studied in my previous work. First of all, it is Scheler’s value theory that comes into question. However, in our times, when the differentiation of issues concerning man has reached its peak - introducing the most artificial cleavages into the heart of the issues themselves - it is the unity of the human being that it seems imperative to investigate. In fact, in spite of the fundamental Schelerian, and for that matter generally phenomeno¬ logical, efforts conducive to the cognition of the complete man, this unity, its basis, as well as its primordial manifestation, are still missing in the present-day philosophical conception of man-whereas in tradi¬ tional Aristotelian thought it was the very conception of the “human act” which was seen as the manifestation of man’s unity as well as its source. It seems then that by introducing here this approach to man through action we may yield the necessary insights into the unity of the human being. And it is certainly not necessary to emphasize the importance of an inquiry into the unifying factors of man for the present-day outlook upon life, sanity, culture and their prospects. One more point must be mentioned. In the lapse of time between its first appearance in the Polish language and the present version of this work, not only the author’s participation in the philosophical life, but also a numerous series of philosophical discussions have contributed to greater precision on many points. There were first discussions with a number of Polish philosophers (published in Analecta Cracoviensia 1973/74). Those with Professor Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka of Boston

PREFACE

IX

however were the most important for the present publication. They have added to the clarification of numerous concepts and con¬ sequently to an improved presentation. Professor A.-T. Tymieniecka, having consented to become the philosophical editor of this work, has proposed some changes which have been incorporated into the definitive version with the full approval of the author. The author is also pleased that this definitive version of his book appears in the distinguished Analecta Husserliana Series. And last but not least, I would like to thank the translator, Mr Andrew Potocki, who has attempted most expertly and with great devotion and care to render this rather difficult Polish text into the English language. CARDINAL KAROL WOJTYLA

Facsimile of the Handwritten Draft of the Author's Preface

The definitive version of the author’s preface given on p. vii was written and sent to the publisher, together with the first half of the manuscript of the book, in March 1977. The author might have given to it in the proofreading those additional personal touches which only he could make; but since these touches are of necessity missing now, we are giving on p. xiii an English translation of the original draft of the preface and are reproducing in facsimile the first and last pages of that handwritten draft. A.-T. T.

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