This is the second of a two-part study treating Karol Wojtyła’s Aristotelian methodology. Having presented Aristotle’s method of induction (ἐπαγωγή/epagoge) and analysis (ἀνάλῠσις/analusis) or division (διαίρεσις/diairesis) in Part I, Part II discloses the logical form and force of Wojtyła’s method of induction and reduction as Aristotelian induction and division. Looking primarily to the introduction to The Acting Person, it is shown that Wojtyła utilizes the logical forms of reductio ad impossibile and reasoning on the hypothesis of the end, or effect-cause reasoning, which is special to the life sciences and the power-object model of definition as set down by Aristotle. By use of this Aristotelian methodology, Wojtyła obtains definitive knowledge of the human person that is necessary and undeniable: he discloses the εἶδος (eidos) or species of the person in the Aristotelian, Thomistic, and Phenomenological sense of the term.

The formation of the human conscience is a controverted question in both philosophical ethics and moral philosophy. Conscience refers to one’s conception and understanding of the moral good. An especially significant manifestation of the problem of conscience in the 20th and 21st centuries is the impact of ideology on the individual person’s moral sense. This article considers the impact of two 19th century philosophies―Mill’s utilitarianism and Marxism―on contemporary moral thought insofar as the interaction of these two produce a powerful materialist ideology to determine the modern European and American conscience. We then turn to the thought of Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyła), who in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor and in his earlier philosophical writings developed an account of moral truth by which the dangers of materialistic ideology can be overcome. It is argued, with John Paul II, that only in the context of truth can a coherent account of freedom of conscience under the moral law be developed.

Announcing in the German Church the so called synodal way provoked discussions concerning the participation and joint responsibility of all the faithful in the implementation of the Church mission, especially with regard to exercising power and making binding decisions. The aim of the presented reflections (comments) is to look at the discussion in the light of the theory of participation, analysed by Karol Wojtyła in his work The Acting Person. The co-existence of the community of action and the personal value of the act and experiencing as one`s own jointly made decisions may set the direction for new paradigms of exploring sensus fidei.

The Code of Canon Law, promulgated by John Paul II in 1983, is a synthesis of the earlier 1917 Code and the doctrine of the Second Vatican Council. The Code contains norms which go well beyond a reform of the inner legal relations within the Catholic Church. A lot of them deal with the value and dignity of the human person, which shows a clear impact of the pontificate of John Paul II, who put a lot of emphasis on the given issue. The article discusses the fields of legal regulations in the Code which touch upon the issue of the human person, esp. freedom of religion, protection of unborn life, social rights, legal standing of women and the education of future generations. It points out the main difference between civil law (which also serves the dignity of the human person) and canon law, namely, the latter aims at the salvation of souls.

serious confrontation with the subject: “Person” in the Code of Matrimonial Law (CIC and CCEO), is an—invariably relevant—challenge that the study of canon law and jurisprudence have to face. The argument for the validity of this conclusion is provided by the famous John Paul II’s thesis, proclaimed in the Familiaris Consortio exhortation (1981) and the famous 1997 Address to the Roman Rota, which can be summarized in the following words: the foundation and structural principle of interpersonal (ethical and legal!) relationships in marriage is matrimonial love. This axiom—still insufficiently present in the thoughts of canonists and church judges—reflects the deepest truth, of which “prophetically” the author of the monumental works Love and Responsibility and The Acting Person gave testimony; the truth that not elsewhere, but in the conciliar spiritually person-centric vision of matrimonial community (communio/consortium), a hermeneutic key should be sought for an adequate and complete understanding of the structure of marriage, harmoniously integrating its two personal and institutional dimensions.
Karol Wojtyła’s/John Paul II’s brilliant thought deserved to be confronted with the premises that prove the hypothesis that the mere declarative identification in the expressed judgments/concepts with the idea of a personalistic aggiornamento (“programmed” especially in numbers 47–52 of the Council’s Constitution Gaudium et Spes) does not yet guarantee the adequacy and completeness of the canonistic approaches to the “truth of matrimony.” This is both in the sphere of theological exposure in accordance with the Magisterium (in the light of the “Image of God”) and at the praxis level: the interpretation and application of the normative records in the nodal canons of CIC and CCEO. The first part of the study is dedicated to illustrating such a state of affairs – in various proposals of doctrine and jurisprudence: from a concept that is completely misguided and destined to fail in advance; through a concept that, because of its extremely conservative approach to the need for vetera et nova harmonisation, has not stood the test of time, to concepts, indeed, universally acknowledged in the study of canon law, whose authors (or their adherents), after all, should be suggested to implement certain necessary corrections: bigger or smaller. In the second part, the research contemplation focuses on the conclusions of the realization of the conciliar postulate of “harmonization” in presenting a person-centric vision of matrimony. These synthetic remarks constitute an attempt to show the basis for an adequate interpretation of the formula adopted by the two codes announced in the title: “a partnership of the whole of life”.

The article presents the issues related to the understanding of the person in the Polish Family and Guardianship Code. It shows the complex issue of acquiring legal capacity, including the legal capacity of the conceived child, the relation between parental authority and the child, adoption of the child, the acquisition and scope of capacity for legal acts, as well as some limitations resulting from incapacitation were showed.

The emphasis on the human person and his dignity was significantly applied in the new regulation of the law of consecrated life, which is dealt with in the new Code of Canon Law of 1983 in integrum compared to the previous Code of Canon Law of 1917. This paper describes only some of the changes in the law of religious institutes in the Latin Church.
The first section regards mainly the person who has taken religious vows and focuses on the question of religious vows as the basis of religious life. It also discusses confessors viewed as a necessary tool for the renewal of religious life as well as modifications in the concept of poverty as a very important element of religious life. The second section focuses on the government of religious institutes, discussing the strengthened position of internal superiors over external superiors in religious congregations, the strengthened position of the superior of monasteries of nuns, and the extended powers of superiors on release from a religious institute due to illegitimate absence from a religious house.
As this is in some cases a very recent legal regulation, the author does not hesitate to express his critical observations.

Human-related issues are the objected personalism. One of the current problems contemporarily recognized and widely known is data protection. The article aims to present a mutual connection between legal regulations of data protection, taking under consideration GDPR, and personalism. The conclusion is that there are many elements in legal regulations that justify the conviction that the protection of personal data can be seen as an expression of personalism.

Tomasz Gałkowski CP, Ogólne zasady prawa w prawie kanonicznym [General Principles of Law in the Canon Law] Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego, 2020, 221 pp.

Carlo Fantappiè, Ecclesiologia e Canonistica Venezia: Marcianum Press, 2015, 439 pp.

Spiritual Care in Public Institution in Europe, eds. Jiří Rajmund Tretera and Záboj Horák. Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2019, 140 pp.

Philosophy and Canon Law 2021, vol. 7(2)

Philosophy and Canon Law vol. 7(2) (2021)