PHL 715 The Place of Personalism in the History of Philosophy
The course begins by setting personalism in relation to Plato and Aristotle and Plotinus. Special attention is given to the Christian inspiration of the personalist critique of Greek thought. The influence of St. Augustine as the first great personalist thinker is examined. The Christological and Trinitarian debates of the 4th and 5th century are investigated. The “theological personalism” of Metropolitan John Zizioulas (1931-2023) is studied, who traces this personalism back to the Cappadocian Fathers of the 4th and 5th century. Next, major attention is given to the understanding of the person in St. Thomas Aquinas and then the Franciscan tradition for its thought on individual being and personal being. The influence of St. Francis Assisi is acknowledged. The so-called “turn to the subject” is next taken up, beginning with the Cartesian cogito. Among modern thinkers, particular attention is paid to Locke, Kant, and St. John Henry Newman; and also to the group of American philosophers who constitute American Personalism. Attention will also be given to the place of personalism in Vatican II.