Some Remarks on the Philosophy of Love in Dietrich von Hildebrand and Karol Wojtyla

Abstract

First of all I would like to thank the organizers of this conference for the invitation. The translation of the book of Dietrich von Hildebrand Das Wesen der Liebe (The Essence of Love) is an important event, because one of the most original works dedicated to the phenomenon of love is now available to the English reader. For me the opportunity to speak today about the philosophy of Hildebrand and Wojtyla constitutes at the same time an occasion to recall the years of my formation at the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland and at the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein, where I could study the philosophy of these two great thinkers, all the while benefiting from the wisdom of such professors as Tadeusz Styczen, Rocco Buttiglione, Josef Seifert, John Crosby and others. I see this contribution also as an expression of the gratitude I owe them.
In my paper I do not intend to offer a historical analysis of the mutual relation between Hildebrand and Wojtyla. As far as I can tell in the works of Wojtyla we do not find any direct reference to Hildebrand and viceversa. I do not want to say that Wojtyla did not know the thought of von Hildebrand. On the contrary, it is quite possible that he knew at least some of the philosophical works of Hildebrand, since – as we know – he studied the ethics of Max Scheler, and in general was interested in the phenomenological movement. On the other hand, in the works of Tadeusz Styczen, who was one of the closest collaborators of Wojtyla and his successor in the chair of ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin, we frequently find references to the works of von Hildebrand. So it seems to me that we can speculate that Wojtyla knew the philosophy of von Hildebrand, but he did not belong to the group of his direct interlocutors. It is also interesting to note that in the encyclical Veritatis splendor of John Paul II we find terminology – which I will try to show later – that is very similar to that of von Hildebrand, so at least in this case we might be justified in assuming some direct influence of Hildebrand on Wojtyla. At the same time, for methodological reasons, the works of John Paul II cannot be seen as a simple continuation of the reflections of the philosopher Karol Wojtyla.