What is a Person?: Realities, Constructs, Illusions

In this book, John M. Rist offers an account of the concept of 'person' as it has developed in the West, and how it has become alien in a post-Christian culture. He begins by identifying the 'mainline tradition' about persons as it evolved from the time of Plato to the High Middle Ages, then turns to successive attacks on it in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, then proceeds to the 'five ways' in which the tradition was savaged or distorted in the nineteenth century and beyond. He concludes by considering whether ideas from contemporary philosophical movements, those that combine a closer analysis of human nature with a more traditional metaphysical background, may enable the tradition to be restored. A timely book on a theme of universal significance, Rist ponders whether we persons matter, and how we have reached a position where we are not sure whether we do.

Table of Contents:
Part I. Constructing the 'Mainline Tradition': 1. The first foundations: Plato and Aristotle; 2. From Stoic individuals and personae to Christian persons; 3. Mixtures: Plotinus, Porphyry, Nemesius; 4. Augustine's personae: theology, metaphysics, history; 5. The definition: Boethius and Richard of Saint Victor; 6. Toward a synthesis: Thomas Aquinas; 7. Between two worlds: Duns Scotus; Part II. No God, No Soul; What Person?: 8. Virtue, 'virtue', rights; 9. Descartes on soul, self, mind, nature; 10. Personal identity from Hobbes to Locke; 11. After Locke; 12. Sympathy or empathy: Richardson, Hume, Smith; 13. Ambiguous Rousseau's soul and 'moi'; 14. Kant's rational autonomy; Part III. Toward Disabling the Person: 15. Introducing the five ways; 16. Assimilation and homogenization; 17. The way of Prometheus; 18. Whistling in the humanitarian wind; 19. Virtual morality: propaganda as social glue; 20. The way to an absolute nihilism; Part IV. Persons Restored or Final Solution?: 21. Parfit and Heidegger; 22. Strawson and Nagel; 23. Personalism, phenomenology, Edith Stein; 24. God made Adam and Eve.

About the Author :
John Rist is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Toronto. Author of more than a dozen books and over a hundred articles on ancient philosophy, patristics, and ethics, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Aquinas Medalist of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Review :
'John M. Rist describes how the 'mainline' understanding of the human person arose, how it became shaken in early modern thinking, and finally shattered in the suspicions of the nineteenth and the nihilism of the twentieth centuries. Using Heidegger as a foil and Edith Stein as a resource, he shows how the mainline tradition can be reaffirmed and even enhanced by its history; he argues that we can do better than 'the ethics of wishful thinking', which some might see as the only option available now. His book is a major contribution to both cultural and philosophical understanding.' Robert Sokolowski, Elizabeth Breckenridge Caldwell Professor of Philosophy, Catholic University of America 'Few issues in philosophy are more urgent and enigmatic than the concept of a 'person'. Eminent Platonic scholar and trenchant moralist, John M. Rist weighs in on the question with characteristic verve and formidable learning. The elegant sweep of his vision of the 'Mainline Tradition', and its critique and evolution since the Enlightenment, is remarkable, while the polemical and constructive thrust of his own arguments is arresting.' Douglas Hedley, University of Cambridge 'Deeply entrenched in the Catholic-Christian tradition, this investigation offers a provocative account of the concept 'person' from Plato to the present.' H. Storl, Choice 'What is a Person? is the fruit of enormous learning and a mind capable of contextualizing philosophers differing in language, culture, and historical contexts in a clear, memorable style of exposition.' Christopher Kaczor, The Thomist 'This erudite work is one of those rare monographs which combines depth and breadth, as well as critical scholarly treatment of historical figures and perennial issues which are nonetheless clearly applicable to contemporary interests. … This book would be useful for scholars in a number of fields of philosophy, theology and history. It would also make an excellent source for advanced graduate or doctoral seminars.' Matthew W. Knotts, Augustiniana