Erich Przywara and Postmodern Natural Law: A History of the Metaphysics of Morals

by Graham James McAleer

Overview

Graham McAleer’s Erich Przywara and Postmodern Natural Law is the first work to present in an accessible way the thinking of Erich Przywara (1889-1972) for an English-speaking audience. Przywara’s work remains little known to a broad Catholic audience, but it had a major impact on many of the most celebrated theologians of the twentieth century, including Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, Edith Stein, and Karl Barth. Przywara’s ground-breaking text Analogia Entis (The analogy of being) brought theological metaphysics into the modern era. While the concept of "analogy of being" is typically understood in static terms, McAleer explores how Przywara transformed it into something dynamic. McAleer shows the extension of Przywara’s thought into a range of disciplines: from a new theory of natural law to an explanation of how misunderstanding the analogy of being lies at the foundation of the puzzles of modernity and postmodernity. He demonstrates, through Przywara’s conceptual framework, how contemporary moral problems, such as those surrounding robots, Islam and sumptuary laws, Nazism (including fascism and race), embryos, migration, and body modification, among others, are shaped by the failure of Western thought to address metaphysical quandaries. McAleer updates Przywara for a new audience searching for solutions to the failing humanism of the current age. This book will be of interest to intellectuals and scholars in a wide range of disciplines within philosophy or theology, and will appeal especially to those interested in systematic and moral theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268105938
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	10/31/2019
Pages:	148
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

Graham James McAleer is professor of philosophy at Loyola University Maryland.

Read an Excerpt

In a striking formulation, Robert defines a person as an “atom” in the genus of rational nature (Ex his patet quod ad verum esse personae oportet quod sit rationalis natura. Item, quod sit atoma in illo genere (III Sent., q. 8, p. 39, l. 108-9)). He writes: “It is evident what is understood here by nature, namely, an individual nature in the genus of human, and by person, namely, a thing in act of singular genus remaining distinctly apart from all others.” A person is a thing unto itself in a high order of act (res in actu sui generis). With this phrasing, Robert captures wonderfully our modern sense of the otherness of each person but how does the “atom” of the person relate to human nature? As a genus, human nature is a matter-form composite, a singular in incomplete act: it is a res supplemented by the res that is the person; a person is an intensity of act crafting its own genus and unable to suffer further supplementation. A person is the culmination of an already partially formed, partially in act, “individual” human nature, which functions as a principium materiale (equivocity). Wrestling against this equivocity, Robert deploys delicate language to explain the individuation of singular objects of many hefty ontological parts. A culminating form delivers a signatio actio making an ens actuale et individuum. Form unites with matter as a co-party (coadunat et continent (II Sent., q. 17, p. 64, l. 99-106)). The composite qua form individuates the composite as an individual and the same composite qua matter partially, but significantly, contracts the form to individual status. As co-parties of the composite, matter and form help realize the actualis existentia of the composite: a term used to capture the presence of the composite’s standing in individuated reality. Though an intensity of act a person still needs the other individuating principles of being to be adequately individuated. There is no real distinction of persons from their individuating conditions in the singular common natures, which are co-parties to their identities. For Robert, individuation of persons is, one might say, a communicative phenomenon: a unity of singularizing arcs of being with an emphasis on a kernel of ontological uniqueness that is the person. Robert’s cunning treatment of the restrained fracturing of singular objects gets another loosening of the nut in the case of Christ. Robert wants to defend the claim that the happiness of Christ was the same before and after the resurrection. He needs to secure an aloofness from the trauma of human nature. Trauma? Yes: division and corruption are structural in the created order (II Sent., q. 20, p. 79, l. 6-11): omnia componibilia secundum quod huiusmodi aliquid imperfectionis habent (III Sent., q. 14, p. 67, l. 7-8). Christ transcends this structural imperfection both in person and nature: Persona divina est natura divina quoad identitatem. Sed illa est simplicissima (III Sent., q. 14, p. 67, l. 4-5). About natural singular objects, Robert can cogently argue that even though the components are res there is nevertheless no real distinction between nature and person on account of the coesse of the multiple individuating parts of the singular object (III Sent., q. 11, p. 58, l. 86-90). In Christ, however, there is a real distinction between human nature and person: Christ’s individuation as a person is prior to any role played by human nature (III Sent., q. 11, p. 58, l. 91-2); for the person of Christ, individuated bodily, does not draw on any source of being other than the divine nature he always is. Hence Christ is not a persona composita, as Robert puts it, but a persona simplex. Put another way, for Robert, we have thoroughly embodied personalities, but Christ does not. As Przywara notes, Aquinas precisely tries to finesse this point (AE, 304-05). Any treatment of the Incarnation is bound to be horribly fraught: Leo Strauss quips somewhere that Christianity drives philosophy to madness. Robert’s account minimizes the humanity of Christ and Thomas is at the other pole risking naturalizing Christ. Robert edges towards angelism whilst Thomas’s talk of the Incarnate Word having an esse secundarium through human nature moves dramatically the other way. Having no truck with the composition suggested by Thomas’s esse secundarium, for Robert, the Incarnation is thus utterly gratuitous: a thoroughly historical initiative congruent with Robert’s metaphysical and political dislike of naturalism. This is not the thinking of a befuddled mind. Best to think of Robert as kin to Augustinians down through the centuries who have been skeptical of Aristotle’s naturalism: Olivi, Malebranche, Pascal, Scheler, and even Kolnai. Kilwardby’s theory of metaphysical composition is indicative of the rising tide of Augustinianism that actually reached high water mark in the early modern period. It should be no surprise that his angelism ends up working against his overall goal. Flipping between a musical Platonism (univocity) and a medical naturalism (equivocity) – leading to an account of the Incarnation wherein an aloof Christ (univocity) surfs the suffering of a fracturing human nature (equivocity) – Robert’s position is unstable. His aloof Christ is meant to curb Anselmian humanism, to, so to say, put man in his proper place. With an ironic twist on the declaration of Gaudium et Spes (para. 22) that Christ “fully reveals man to himself,” Robert’s account of the Incarnation elevates an embodied Jesus to an angelic Christ and with little tinkering one arrives at Descartes’s ego perplexed to find itself a “winged cherub without a body.” In Robert’s hands, Augustine’s idealist philosophy is a sobering dissent from Gregory’s political theology that contributes to an early modern angelism that ironically makes man a master of nature. (excerpted from chapter 1)

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Robert Kilwardby’s Angelism
2. Hellfire and the Burning Flesh of the Disembodied
3. Early Modern Angelism and Schopenhauer’s Vitalism
4. Vitalism and National Socialism
5. Agamben on the Ontology of Clothes
6. Relying on Clothes: Merleau-Ponty’s Flesh
7. Value Theory and Natural Law
8. Play and Liturgy Conclusion: Moral Theory: Metaphysics and Liturgy

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Another slendid book by G. J. McAleer, in which he tackles, with characteristic panache and ploymorphous erudition, a whole slew of the moral and cultural perplexities that confront Catholics currently in the liberal democracies, expounding and developing a radical account of the doctrine of natural law that shows how we got here and how we might work ourselves out of the mess. Granted, it is a challenging read for 'liberal humanitarians' such as myself, a Thomist who never read Pryzwara, and (worse still!) a student of philosophy at Aberdeen who never heard of Thomas Reid, two of McAleer's heroes. But, even when you resist where the argument is inexorably taking you, you cannot restrain your delight in the thought world that McAleer opens up—a dazzling performance!" —Fergus Kerr, O.P., School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh

"In fresh and accessible prose, Graham McAleer's latest book demonstrates the enduring relevance of Pryzwara's teaching on the analogy of being. On the basis of his thought, McAleer offers a compelling genealogy of modernity and sheds light on numerous otherwise perplexing features of contemporary culture." —Thomas Hibbs, president, University of Dallas

"This work is highly valuable from a number of angles: first it unpacks some of the key concepts of Erich Przywara’s Analogia Entis which was one of the most important Catholic books of the 20th century but notoriously dense. Second it argues that ethical reflection must include a metaphysics of morals that avoids landing on one extreme end of the vitalism-angelism see-saw. Thirdly it argues that natural law is Christoform and thereby affirms and extends the directions taken by St John Paul II in this field. Fourthly it demonstrates the contemporary relevance of these ideas by juxtaposing them with themes in postmodern philosophy and social practices. Fifthly it highlights the political repercussions of getting the analogia entis wrong or just not taking it into account at all. And last, but far from least, it achieves all of this with a very engaging (non-boring, non-technical) style of writing. It’s a 'must read' for anyone interested in the Catholic intellectual tradition." —Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame (Australia)

"Graham McAleer's learning and talent for relating seemingly disparate ideas and thinkers . . . are clearly in evidence throughout. The author's command of sources from medieval to early modern to contemporary is impressive." —Aaron Pidel, Marquette University

"This volume is a cultural and philosophical commentary on an extremely important twentieth-century text in Thomistic thought, Analogia Entis by Erich Przywara, S.J. The author aims both to make this very difficult text more easily accessible and to apply the thought found in that seminal text to contemporary trends." —Joseph W. Koterski, S.J., Fordham University

"Graham McAleer makes astonishingly difficult things come to life in the most vibrant and persuasive way. His book is enormously erudite and enormously interesting. He makes the implications of Przywara's thought for ethics and culture pop off the page. This book could be a huge conversation starter on multiple levels." —John Betz, University of Notre Dame

From the Publisher

"This work is highly valuable from a number of angles: first it unpacks some of the key concepts of Erich Przywara’s Analogia Entis which was one of the most important Catholic books of the 20th century but notoriously dense. Second it argues that ethical reflection must include a metaphysics of morals that avoids landing on one extreme end of the vitalism-angelism see-saw. Thirdly it argues that natural law is Christoform and thereby affirms and extends the directions taken by St John Paul II in this field. Fourthly it demonstrates the contemporary relevance of these ideas by juxtaposing them with themes in postmodern philosophy and social practices. Fifthly it highlights the political repercussions of getting the analogia entis wrong or just not taking it into account at all. And last, but far from least, it achieves all of this with a very engaging (non-boring, non-technical) style of writing. It’s a 'must read' for anyone interested in the Catholic intellectual tradition."

Tracey Rowland

"Graham McAleer's learning and talent for relating seemingly disparate ideas and thinkers . . . are clearly in evidence throughout. The author's command of sources from medieval to early modern to contemporary is impressive."

Aaron Pidel

"Graham McAleer makes astonishingly difficult things come to life in the most vibrant and persuasive way. It is enormously erudite and enormously interesting. He makes the implications of Przywara's thought for ethics and culture pop off the page. This book could be a huge conversation starter on multiple levels."

John Betz

"Another slendid book by G. J. McAleer, in which he tackles, with characteristic panache and ploymorphous erudition, a whole slew of the moral and cultural perplexities that confront Catholics currently in the liberal democracies, expounding and developing a radical account of the doctrine of natural law that shows how we got here and how we might work ourselves out of the mess. Granted, it is a challenging read for 'liberal humanitarians' such as myself, a Thomist who never read Pryzwara, and (worse still!) a student of philosophy at Aberdeen who never heard of Thomas Reid, two of McAleer's heroes. But, even when you resist where the argument is inexorably taking you, you cannot restrain your delight in the thought world that McAleer opens up—a dazzling performance!"

Fergus Kerr

"In fresh and accessible prose, Graham McAleer's latest book demonstrates the enduring relevance of Pryzwara's teaching on the analogy of being. On the basis of his thought, McAleer offers a compelling genealogy of modernity and sheds light on numerous otherwise perplexing features of contemporary culture."

Thomas Hibbs

"This volume is a cultural and philosophical commentary on an extremely important twentieth-century text in Thomistic thought, Analogia Entis by Erich Przywara, S.J. The author aims both to make this very difficult text more easily accessible and to apply the thought found in that seminal text to contemporary trends."

Joseph W. Koterski