The contribution of Emmanuel Mournier to the personalist movement through his publication of the Review, Esprit, in 1930 is well known. In his works, Mournier developed a viable opposition to both the excessive individualism of liberal capitalism and the collectivism of communism after the First World War. Less well known, however, is the personalist philosophy of the late Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) which attempts on the contemporary scene to provide the vision and accountability needed to foster a new way of thinking about society’s responsibility to support and maintain fairness in the global reorganization of markets; a vision which recognizes the multinational corporation as a key player in establishing a sound global social economy.
The pope’s moral vision includes a relational, communitarian, social ontology, in which a more expansive sense of the self’s obligation to all participants in the global community can be achieved than is currently found in liberal democracy’s tendency toward inward looking emphasis upon fulfillment of private interests; this “turning inward” is echoed also by Charles Taylor in The Ethics of Authenticity in which he describes modernity’s fragmented atomistic approach to society, that points to a cultural setting in which people find it extremely difficult to identify with a set of shared values capable of providing inspiration and motivation in their day-to-day lives.
Pope John Paul II’s personalism provides this philosophical and cultural foundation for a shared vision of what is needed to transform our public and private institutions in such a way that all persons can be placed in positions to share in the benefits of the newly formed global economy. This shared vision requires “morally and socially sensitive people capable of responsible interaction”. According to the pope, success in implementing this vision requires a rethinking of the meaning of work. In his personalist approach to work, he argues that to be a truly human and humanizing activity, work, in our market economy, must have as its purpose, not simply profit or self aggrandizement, but service, so that the “consistent image in the world of economic activity must always capture the primacy and superiority of the person over capital.”
Sources to be examined will include the pope’s social encyclicals which focus on the economy and the meaning of work: On Human Work (Laborem Exercens, 1981); On Social Concern (Solicitudi Socialis, 1987); One Hundred Years (Centesimus Annus, 1991), celebrating the 100th anniversary of Leo XII’s, Rerum Novarum. We also will examine selected philosophical writings of John Paul II which were written and delivered when he was still Archbishop of Krakow, especially “Subjectivity and the Irreducible in the Human Being” (International Conference, Paris, June 1975) and “The Person: Subject and Community” (Rocznik: Filozoficzne 24 (1976) 5-39.
John E. Kelly, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Canisius College
Buffalo, NY 14208USA