Neo-scholasticism

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Neuscholasticism is a collective term for the philosophical-theological teachings developed within the Catholic Church with reference to medieval scholasticism from the mid-19th century to the present day. The term neo-scholasticism was probably coined by Jakob Frohschammer and Alois von Schmid in 1862 . Neuscholasticism is the continuation of scholasticism beyond the Reformation .

Moments of origin at the beginning of the 20th century

Neuscholasticism is the strictly conservative trend within modern Catholic philosophy . It developed in close connection with the social developments and upheavals of the consequences of the First World War . The upswing of neo-scholasticism even reached circles that had previously been hostile to it. At the beginning of the 1920s, philosophy professors Dietrich von Hildebrand (1889–1977), Siegfried Behn (1884–1970) and Max Ettlinger (1877–1929) converted to Catholicism . Well-known Catholic philosophers such as Alois Dempf (1891–1982) described the strengthening of Catholic philosophy as an expression of the “external and internal hardship of the time”. Since the Second World War and afterwards in particular Nouvelle Théologie on the one hand and existential philosophy on the other had an inhibiting effect on neo-scholasticism .

Content-related moments

The central concern of the various groups of neo-scholasticism is the same as that of medieval scholasticism: philosophical, i.e. H. rational justification of church dogmas , reconciliation of faith and knowledge, religion and science, fight against all “progressive-social-philosophical” ideas, especially against philosophical materialism and “scientific” atheism , which penetrated the church in the form of modernism . Neuscholasticism began in Germany in the middle of the 19th century and is closely related to the conservative and restorative tendencies of the time.

A pioneer in the revival of the scholastic tradition

In several European countries, Catholic theologians and philosophers tried to revive scholastic traditions. Important representatives in the German-speaking area who followed on from Spanish and Italian scholasticism were Joseph Kleutgen , Mathias Joseph Scheeben , Konstantin von Schaezler and others. a. In the struggle against progressive movements, following on from a scholastic tradition that was never completely broken off, they took the first steps to revive the scholastic philosophy. In the course of the second half of the 19th century, these approaches were expanded, with German neo-scholasticism becoming increasingly clear as a movement against the continuing 'progressive' legacy of classical bourgeois philosophy ( Kant , Hegel , Fichte etc.) and, above all, against itself spreading socialist movement developed.

In Germany, the Kulturkampf in particular contributed to strengthening neo-scholasticism. After the turn of the century, especially after the two world wars, the neo-scholasticism, which until then had also been fiercely hostile by bourgeois currents, succeeded in overcoming its outsider position and becoming an influential, in any case respected direction within modern philosophy.

Promotion of the Popes

Neuscholasticism has been directed and promoted by the Vatican from the beginning and its implementation has sometimes been enforced. The various interventions of the Curia culminate in the encyclical Aeterni patris from 1879 , in which the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas was declared the official teaching of the Catholic Church. Such preferences were repeated several times later in this sense. The last significant statement in which the neo-scholasticism was officially recommended was the encyclical Humani generis by Pius XII. from 1950. Pope Paul VI. and his successors praised Thomism several times, see the encyclical Fides et ratio by John Paul II , but without giving it a unique position.

In terms of content, Neuscholasticism essentially went back to the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas (see Thomism ), but also to that represented by Augustine , Bonaventure , Duns Scotus (cf.  Scotism , Franciscan School) and Francisco Suárez (so-called Suarezianism ) Concepts. This “renaissance” is often seen as a restoration .

In general, however, Catholic theology also sees itself as capable of dialogue with newer philosophical ideas. So Jean Guitton , although likewise conservative, performed a critique de la critique , starting with Henri Bergson , very carefully and critically examining modern thought. This effort resulted in the short work God and Science in 1991 but also in the special recognition for Thomism.

Basic lines of the teachings

Since Neuthomism is by far the most influential and most supported by the Church group within Neuscholasticism, it is often - but inappropriately - identified with that group. Although neo-scholasticism exhibited a certain range of tension after the turn of the 20th century (until then neo-scholasticism was pronounced repristination ) due to these circumstances as well as due to certain modernization efforts, some of which can be quite far-reaching , there is a certain basic set of teachings which allowed the neo-scholasticism to be viewed as a unified current. In the self-understanding of neo-scholasticism, these teachings are summarized by Johannes Hirschberger in his History of Philosophy (Part II, 1949–1952) as follows:

With all these thinkers there is a certain deposit of philosophical doctrines that holds them together: there is truth in general and there are eternal truths; the cognition of man includes the modus cognoscentis , but does not thereby become pure, relativistic subjectivity; Rather, being itself is recognizable and has an objective character; It can be analyzed in created and uncreated being, in substance and accident , essence and existence, act and potency , archetype and image , in the layers of physical, living, spiritual, spiritual being; the soul of man is immaterial, substantial and immortal ; in this way the human being is essentially different from the animal; Morality, law and the state are based on eternal norms; and the first cause of all being, of all truth and values ​​is the transcendent God .
In the individual implementation there is a great breadth of variation, as can be seen in the well-known controversies, e.g. about the interpretation of the difference between created and uncreated being ( ens a se and ens ab alio , archetype and image), about the relationship between divine causation and human freedom (Thomism and Molinism), about spiritual cognition (abstraction and intuition), about universals ( ante or post res ), about the valuation of soul forces ( intellectualism or voluntarism ), about the justification of ethics (theonomic or teleological ethics or value theory) ... Nevertheless, the basic attitude is always somehow carried by the spirit of the Platonic - Aristotelian philosophy and its metaphysics of beings, forms and ideas. "

As a common moment of neo-scholasticism - with all the variance of the content and methodological implementation - the effort to achieve a philosophical and theological terminology that is as uniform and exact as possible can be rated. Critics from philosophy and theology often oppose this severity, which is sometimes perceived as a “empty drought” and “abstract abstraction”, and the associated methodological and intellectual claim, their own approaches and systems, which, however, rarely turn into a “school” (hence : schola ) developed in the real sense. In this way - an objection to these "innovators" - not only the communicability of the content, but also the claim of philosophy and theology to be a spiritual science, is increasingly being undermined and replaced by an appeal to the merely subjective, "existential" experience . Neo-Scholastic philosophy does not accept this, in its view, short-circuited anthropocentrism of an autonomous theology (cf. neo-modernism ).

Critique of Neo-Scholasticism

The neo-scholasticism led to an in-depth historical research into scholasticism. At the same time, it tended to mere historicization. In the words of Gerhard Ludwig Müller : “It is to be criticized that there was often no creative confrontation with time. A pure Thomas repristination could not suffice. Thomas himself was often only received in school without his ingenious, speculative depths being taken into account. "

Influence of neo-scholasticism

The neo-scholasticism dominated the school operations of the Catholic faculties up to the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II (1962–1965) formed “the great turning point” and practically ended the predominance of neo-scholasticism in the Catholic area.

Main representative of neo-scholasticism

See also: List of the main representatives of neo-scholasticism

Textbooks and sources on scholasticism

Representative representations of neo-scholasticism, which on the one hand significantly influenced its development and on the other hand - in retrospect - reflect it:

  • Albert Stöckl: Textbook of Philosophy , 3 volumes, 1869.
  • Alfred Lehmen : Textbook of philosophy on an Aristotelian and scholastic basis , 4 volumes, 1899–1904.
  • Clemens Baeumker , Ludwig Bauer, Max Ettlinger (eds.): Philosophical Reference Library , 10 volumes, 1920–1925, especially volumes 1: Introduction to Philosophy , 6: Metaphysics , 7: Ethics and 9: Philosophy of Religion .
  • Philosophia Lovaniensis , Outline of Philosophy in Individual Representations, German: 1948ff.

A joint work that reflects the neo-scholastic philosophy in a simple and condensed form in a more modern way is:

swell

  1. ^ A b Carl Mirbt : Sources on the history of the papacy and Roman Catholicism. 1924
  2. ^ Johannes Hirschberger , History of Philosophy , II, 1949–1952
  3. See Horst Seidl: Realistische Metaphysik: Opinion on modern criticism of traditional metaphysics. - Hildesheim: Olms (2006). (Philosophical texts and studies; vol. 83). - ISBN 3-487-13131-5 , p. XII: Neuscholasticism is more interested in a historical knowledge of scholasticism and less in a systematic application to current problems.
  4. ^ A b Gerhard Ludwig Müller : Catholic dogmatics: for study and practice of theology. - 6th edition - Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 2005, ISBN 3-451-28652-1 , p. 102

literature

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