Studia Gilsoniana (Aug 2019)
Thomistic Personalism as the Key to Understanding Human Altruism
Abstract
In this paper, the author attempts to explain human altruism within the framework of Thomistic personalism. He claims that (1) Thomistic personalism provides the necessary tools for understanding the human being as person in relation to other persons, and (2) it makes it possible to see the differences between personal and non-personal forms of human dynamism, which, when disregarded, easily lead to confusion. He concludes that, as an extention of love, altruism belongs to the personal, and, consequently, there is an intrinsic connection between personalism and altruism.
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