About the Book
This volume is a compilation of papers presented at the third biannual meeting of the International Forum on Persons held at Oriel College, Oxford in August of 1995. Propelling the origination of the organization was both the insight that persons are subject not only to political, economic, and technological dehumanization but also to deep misunderstanding and the conviction that focusing the bright light of dialectical critique on the topic could help overcome the ignorance among scholars. Purely personal relations where no impersonal factors need to be taken into account are rare, if indeed they exist at all. Most of our relations with people, for instance parents and children, involve types of expectations as to behaviour and obligations, and these, as general and repeatable features, are not uniquely personal. The notion of a person itself, according to anthropologists, grows up in a social context. To be a person is not just to be an individual human being, but to have a name which gives one a status. "Status" need not be a snob word - it refers simply to having a social position. It can include an occupational role.
This is still sometimes preserved in Wales, where you can have John Jones the Post and John Jones the Bread. I had thought this was because more or less everyone there was called Jones, but Philip Hunt, who lives in Wales, tells me it is important to mark a person's occupation. There are two extreme views of what it is to be a person. One is the purely sociological defining of a person by his status and function. The other is the existentialist where a person exists in making unique decisions for which no further understanding of the super-ego and morality, social policy among a positivist view of society, and the social possibilities provided by the concept of covenant. To advance the conversation on these fronts a variety of philosophical approaches are required, from theology, to metaphysics, to social philosophy, to philosophy of mind. Finally, the last group of essays discuss various world views implied by the personalist vision. These range from the thought of Gabriel Marcel, to Jose Vasconcelos, to Plato, to Karol Wojtyla, to Rosenzweig, to John Henry Newman, to African thought, and to American Personalism.
Though these views represent different societies, French, German, Poland, England, Africa, and the United States, they converge at the point of believing that the person is the central category for understanding the world. Do these essays dispel all the vagueness and misunderstanding surrounding the problem of person in our age? Do they settle the problems of methodology and authority? No, that would be claim too much; the problems are so difficult that they cannot be resolved by one conference of group of them. However, we believe that only through a philosophically diverse conversation such as the one at Oriel College, Oxford in August, 1995 can persons make headway and enhance the quality of their lives.
Table of Contents:
PREFACE THOMAS BUFORD...V I. WHAT MAKES A PERSON?...1 THE IMPERSONAL IN THE PERSONAL AND THE PERSONAL IN THE IMPERSONAL DOROTHY EMMET, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY...3 I, YOU, AND WE: AN EXPLORATION MARGARET CHATERCHEE, WESTMINSTER COLLEGE...11 SAYING "NO" AND DENIAL WILFRIED VER EECKE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY...31 RECOVERING PERSONS THOMAS O. BUFORD, FURMAN UNIVERSITY...49 THE ONTOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF LAUGHTER FOR PERSONS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPLORATION ALBERT B. RANDALL, AUSTIN PEAY STATE UNIVERSITY...73 DEFINING HERO, DEFINING PERSON: THE LIVING LEGEND OF ARTHUR JEANIE PAGE RANDALL, AUSTIN PEAY STATE UNIVERSITY...85 KING LEAR AND THE PHILOSOPHER-PERSON RICHARD E. HART, BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE...97 II. ETHICS, POLITICS, AND PERSONS...107 WHAT STABILIZES A LIFE THAT IS MORAL? THOMAS O. BUFORD, FURMAN UNIVERSITY...109 RESPONSE-ABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY, POWER, AND AUTHORITY KENNETH WILSON, WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, OXFORD...125 MOTHERS AND CHILDREN: PROBLEMS FOR SELF-OWNERSHIP DR. SUSAN DODDS, UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG...139 COVENANT DEFINED PERSONHOOD IN MODERN SOCIETY: ON THE PROMISE -- AND PERILS -- OF AN ANCIENT MASTER METAPHOR RAYMOND K. ANDERSON, WILSON COLLEGE...153 POSTISM, SOCIAL POLICY, AND JOHN MACMURRAY PAUL FOX-STRANGWAYS, UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON...175 THE SUPER-EGO AND THE MORAL VISION OF THE WORLD! W. VER EECKE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY...189 III. PERSONALIST WORLDVIEWS...201 THE PERSONALIST ONTOLOGY OF PEACE IN GABRIEL MARCEL: FROM DRAMATIC PRESENTATIONS TO PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION BERNARD A. GENDREAU, XAVIER UNIVERSITY...203 PERSONAL VALUES IN THE THOUGHT OF GABRIEL MARCEL AND JOSE VASCONCELOS JOHN HADDOX, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO...229 FROM MANLY COURAGE TO PHILOSOPHICAL COURAGE: A DIALOGUE BETWEEN PLATO'S LACHES AND PHAEDO JANE KELLEY RODEHEFFER, ST. MARY'S COLLEGE OF MINNESOTA...239 THE PERSONALISM OF KAROL WOJTYLA JAMES G. HANNIK, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY...265 DECONSTRUCTING THE ALL: LANGUAGE AS HUMANKIND'S 'MORNING GIFT FROM THE CREATOR' IN ROSENZWEIG'S STAR OF REDEMPTION ROGER A. BADHAM, DREW UNIVERSITY...279 THE PERSONALISM OF JOHN HENRY NEWMAN JOHN F. CROSBY, FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY OF STEUBENVILLE 299 MYTHOLOGY AND FREEDOM: NICHOLAS BERDYAEV'S USES OF JACOB BOEHME'S UNGRUND MYTH JAMES MCLACHLAN, WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY... 321 AN AFRICAN APPROACH TO PERSONALISM SAFRO KWAME, LINCOLN UNIVERSITY... 343 THE NATION OF PERSON IN AMERICAN PERSONALISM REV. BOGUMIL GACKA, MIC, THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF LUBLIN... 351 INDEX... 375
