Vita activa
The expression Vita activa ( Latin for “active life”; Greek bíos pragikós ) denotes in philosophy and in Catholic theology a way of life in which practical work and social activity are in the foreground. In the philosophical context this often means political engagement, in the church context especially charitable and educational activities. The contrast to this is the Vita contemplativa (Greek bíos theōrētikós ), the “contemplative life”, which is dedicated to contemplation . In philosophical discourse, objects of this consideration are primarily philosophical - especially metaphysical - objects of knowledge in the narrower sense , but also generally all scientifically researchable facts; in theology and Catholic spirituality it is mainly about contemplating God. The ranking of the two ways of life has been controversial since ancient times. It is about the question of which of them is more important, can claim a higher rank and gives people greater happiness. Some authors give priority to social action, the active shaping of community life, others to research and knowledge, the withdrawn lives of philosophers, scientists and monks .
philosophy
Aristotle was the first to work out the contrast between the two ways of life . He believed that the "contemplative" life of the philosopher, dedicated to science, was simply superior and the source of the highest happiness. Aristotle considered the active life of politically and socially active people to be less perfect, but he also accorded this mode of existence a high priority, emphasizing in particular the value of friendship.
Opinions differed among the ancient schools of philosophy. The academy founded by Plato and the Peripatos , the school of Aristotle, professed the principle that the “theoretical”, contemplative life is superior to all other forms of human existence; however, some peripatetics advocated a “mixed” way of life. The Stoics , the Epicureans and the Cynics came to different views . The Stoics rejected the separation and different evaluation of knowledge and action. The Epicureans advocated a withdrawn, apolitical way of life, but rejected the priority of consideration, because according to their doctrine, practice - that is, for them the striving for pleasure - is in principle higher. The Cynics were entirely practical and found contemplation useless.
In the modern age there is a clear tendency towards upgrading the active way of life. The philosopher Hannah Arendt is one of the leaders in this direction . In 1958 she published her work Vita activa or Vom aktivigen Leben (English original: The human condition ). In it she analyzes the three basic human activities of working, manufacturing and acting, starting with the ancient Greeks and the beginning of Western metaphysics. This is necessary in order to understand “what we are actually doing when we take action”.
Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church , Vita activa describes the ideal of a life that has grown out of the religious orders in which an outwardly directed activity in a special area of responsibility, the apostolate , plays an important role. In addition to caring for the needy, the weak, the sick and the elderly, as well as upbringing and education, the apostolates also preach the Gospel . In addition to the so-called active religious orders and congregations, the deaconesses also profess to this ideal of the vita activa , which the Beguines also followed in the course of church history . In religious life it is contrasted with the contemplative monastic life, the Vita contemplativa .
literature
Overview representations
- Niklaus Largier: Vita activa / vita contemplativa. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 8, LexMA, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , Sp. 1752-1754.
- Aimé Solignac: vie active, vie contemplative, vie mixed. In: Dictionnaire de spiritualité. Volume 16, Beauchesne, Paris 1994, Sp. 592-623.
- Christian Trottmann: Vita activa / vita contemplativa. In: Historical Dictionary of Philosophy . Volume 11, Schwabe, Basel 2001, Sp. 1071-1075.
Monographs and collections of articles
- Hannah Arendt: Vita activa or From active life. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1960
- Thomas Bénatouïl, Mauro Bonazzi (eds.): Theoria, Praxis and the Contemplative Life after Plato and Aristotle. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22532-9 .
- Brian Vickers (Ed.): Work, Leisure, Meditation. Studies in the Vita activa and Vita contemplativa. 2nd, revised edition. Verlag der Fachvereine, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7281-1466-9
- Wolfgang Vogl: Action and Contemplation in Antiquity. The historical development of the practical and theoretical view of life up to Origen. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-631-39210-9 .
Remarks
- ↑ Ralf Elm: practice / practice, action. In: Otfried Höffe (Hrsg.): Aristoteles-Lexikon (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 459). Kröner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-520-45901-9 , pp. 487-491, here: 490 f .; Dorothea Frede : The 'superman' in the political philosophy of Aristotle: On the relationship between bios theoreticalikos and bios practikos. In: International Journal of Philosophy 1998, pp. 259–284, here: 278–283.
- ↑ Michael Erler : ἀπλανής θεωρία. Some aspects of the Epicurean idea of βίος θεωρητικός. In: Thomas Bénatouïl, Mauro Bonazzi (eds.): Theoria, Praxis and the Contemplative Life after Plato and Aristotle , Leiden / Boston 2012, pp. 41–55.
- ↑ Thomas Bénatouïl, Mauro Bonazzi: θεωρία and βίος θεωρητικός from the Presocratics to the End of Antiquity: An Overview. In: Thomas Bénatouïl, Mauro Bonazzi (ed.): Theoria, Praxis and the Contemplative Life after Plato and Aristotle , Leiden / Boston 2012, pp. 1–14, here: 5–9.
- ↑ See also Jacques Taminiaux: Bios politikos and bios theoretikos in the Phenomenology of Hannah Arendt. In: International Journal of Philosophical Studies 4, 1996, pp. 215-232.