The Problem of the Idea of Culture in John Paul II: Exposing the Disruptive Agency of the Philosophy of Karol Wojtyla

The Problem of the Idea of Culture in John Paul II: Exposing the Disruptive Agency of the Philosophy of Karol Wojtyla exposes Wojtyla as a disruptive agency in contemporary philosophical debates, reformulating the problem of experience in light of the questions surrounding our idea of culture. Reconsidering the anthropological foundations of this idea, John Corrigan argues that the problem of experience manifests in the apparently divergent accounts of the meaning of human experience as presented by the philosophies of being and of consciousness. Wojtyla’s contemplation of the meaning of human existence led him to the problems of the structure of the person, human action, and the constitutive aspects of human culture. Analyzing the first two problems leads to an idea of the person capable of explaining human experience in relation to human culture; a proper understanding unfolds the experiences of self-knowledge, conscience, and the ontic-causal relationship of the person to human culture. The first part of the book concerns formal considerations regarding the constitutive aspects of Wojtyla’s approach, while the second part deals with pragmatic considerations drawn from his comments on culture. Corrigan provides a new lens with which to view and understand the philosophy of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II.