Articles

Karol Wojtyła’s Thomistic (and Phenomenological) Personalism

Adrian J. Reimers

Abstract

Abstract

Adrian Reimers examines the philosophical foundations of Karol Wojtyła (Pope Saint John Paul II), challenging the view that he was simply a phenomenologist. Reimers demonstrates that while Wojtyła integrated the methods of phenomenology to explicate human subjectivity and lived experience, his intellectual structure remained firmly rooted in Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics. Analyzing his critiques of Max Scheler, along with his foundational texts like Person and Act and the Theology of the Body, Reimers highlights how Wojtyła leveraged Thomistic personalism to defend objective truth, human dignity, and the "language of the body" against modern subjectivism and emotionalism.