Karol Wojtyła as Philosopher of Encounter

Grzegorz Ignatik

Published: 2023-12-311

Vol. 22 (2023)

Karol Wojtyła as Philosopher of Encounter

Grzegorz Ignatik

Abstract

The article’s presupposition is that the encounter with the other is one of the central themes in Karol Wojtyła’s works. In order to show Karol Wojtyła as a philosopher of encounter, the article examines his epistemological method and its purpose, his concept of freedom and love, and finally his understanding of man in the ethical perspective. First, the article describes Wojtyła’s attitude of realism and turning to experience as indispensable elements of his personalism. Wojtyła’s idea of human freedom is then discussed against the backdrop of determinism and indeterminism and in the context of the autonomy of created things. Next, the article outlines Wojtyła’s concept of love by applying his hermeneutics of the gift. The ontological and moral dimension of love in and between human persons is explained through the reality of the law of the gift. Finally, the discussion on love is complemented by the ethical reflections on the hierarchy of values, including the objective and subjective aspects of ethos.

Keywords:

realism, experience, freedom, love, gift, ethos

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Ignatik, G. (2023). Karol Wojtyła as Philosopher of Encounter. Rocznik Teologii Katolickiej, 22, 31–47. Retrieved from https://rtk.uwb.edu.pl/index.php/rtk/article/view/81

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Grzegorz Ignatik

gignatik@pcj.edu

Affiliation:

Pontifical College Josephinum United States

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

GRZEGORZ IGNATIK, PhD, STL, is an Associate Professor of Theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He earned his STL at the International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria, and his Ph.D. at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C. He is currently working on the English critical edition of the complete works of John Paul II/Karol Wojtyła. The first volume of the works entitled “Person and Act” and Related Essays was published in 2021 by the CUA Press. The second volume entitled The Lublin Lectures and Works on Max Scheler was released in Fall this year. Additionally, his book Person and Value: Karol Wojtyła’s Personalistic and Normative Theory of Man, Morality, and Love was published by Lexington Books in 2021.