Non-Classical Philosophy in The West

Problematic Domains of Leading Contemporary Philosophical Trends

Personalism

There exist various interpretations of personalism. Although the term "personalism" was introduced by Charles Renouvier in 1903, it only solidified as a distinct philosophical movement in France during the 1930s, largely due to the efforts of Emmanuel Mounier (1905-1950).

According to Mounier, the foundational premise of personalism is the existence of free and creative individuals. A person is not merely an object; rather, it embodies what is intrinsic to each human being. In observing the various facets of a specific individual’s existence, we encounter only certain aspects of the being of the person. A person is a living activity of self-creation, communication, and union with other individuals. The realization and understanding of the person manifest in action, which is the experience of personalization. In tracing the history of the concept of personhood, Mounier highlights existentialism and Marxism as the two influences that most significantly shaped personalism: the former encouraged an increased focus on issues of freedom, the inner world of the person, communication, and the meaning of history, while the latter emphasized the need to address contemporary issues and maintain a connection to reality.

Personalism challenges the division of the world and humanity into two separate realms—material and spiritual. A person is both body and spirit; wholly body, yet wholly spirit. The person is the center towards which the universe must orient itself: “Let us reject the materialist myth of nature as an impersonal Person.” The course of universal history bears witness to the emergence of the creative individual as a result of the struggle between two opposing tendencies:

• the tendency towards depersonalization;
• the tendency toward personalization, which only begins with the appearance of humanity, a phenomenon prepared by the history of the universe.

The emergence of a personal universe does not interrupt natural history; rather, it incorporates it into the history of humanity without fully subordinating one to the other. One can only speak of a personal universe in relation to the future; today, we see only its individual or collective manifestations. The progressive expansion of this universe constitutes human history.

Humanity personifies nature, which exists within its sphere. The process of personification is hindered by tragic optimism. Nature is aggressive and poses a threat to the personal universe through blockade. The civilization that personalism strives for is one of community. The primary task of individuals is to collectively build a society of persons, in which customs and ways of life, social structures, and institutions align with the requirements of personal existence:

• to transcend one’s own limits (“open oneself to the other”);
• to understand (“reach agreement”);
• to take responsibility for the fate of another (“to suffer with the other”);
• to give (generous and selfless dedication);
• to be faithful.

The unity of humanity is a key idea in Mounier's personalism. He understands freedom as the affirmation of the person (“We live in freedom, not merely to admire it”). The spirit of freedom can be expressed as: “The struggle for freedom knows no end.”

North American personalism traces its origins to the philosopher (and priest) from Boston, Borden Parker Bowne (1847-1910), who published a book titled “Personalism” in 1908. The overarching philosophical foundation of this variant of personalism is the principle of pluralistic idealism, inspired by Leibniz's monadology. Everything that exists is a spiritual individual. In the works of Brightman (1881-1953), the focus shifts to the realm of axiology. The person is the highest value. For Brightman, personalism overall “is the belief that the universe is a community of conscious beings, that the energy described by physicists is the divine will in action, and that there is no unconscious, impersonal existence. Everything that exists is conscious spirit, or some phase or aspect of conscious spirit.”

The person is sacred and inviolable as a manifestation of the cosmic energy that creates the world and inspires all that is genius within humanity. The person is primary, while society is secondary.

North American personalism reacted very negatively to technical civilization, seeing individuals as suppressed by their own creations. Proponents of this movement advocated for theocracy, envisioning a transformation of society into a moral equivalent of God.