Znaczenie, recepcja i konsekwencje filozoficzne encykliki Aeterni Patris w kontekście pytania o filozofię chrześcijańską
The significance, reception and consequences of the encyclical Aeterni Patris in the context of the question about Christian philosophy

Summary/Abstract: The 19th century was one of the richest periods in the history of human thought. If we look at it not only in terms of bare dates, but also in terms of ideologically meaningful events, we realize that this time span symbolically begins with the great French revolution (1789) and ends with the outbreak of world war I (1914). Scientific theories and philosophical ideas that emerged during the nineteenth century – Kantianism, Hegelianism, materialism, Marxism, social and biological evolutionism, positivism, radical atheism – inundated university lecture halls, political cabinets, and parliamentary chambers. Not all intellectuals of that time were aware of the overwhelming power of these philosophical novelties or the groundbreaking significance of major ideological currents. Only serious reflection on what was happening in European thought, in the fields of culture, science, history, philosophy, and religion, allowed people to notice that very serious changes were on their way. One of the key figures who recognized the power of philosophical ideas reverberating in 19-century disputes was an Italian clergyman: Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci, later pope Leo XIII. It was this Pope who, aware of the weight, power and consequences of the new trends emerging in the late 19th century, in very unfavorable conditions for the catholic Church (idealistic philosophies and incipient Marxism) issued in 1879 the encyclical Aeterni Patris. This sophisticated document was not exclusively religious in character (as encyclicals and exhortations usually are), but it was also concerned with the spiritual and ideological condition of nineteenth-century Europe. The pope delineated the ways for providing intellectual assistance and rebuilding the significance of theology and religion in public life, imbalanced by post-Enlightenment and modernistic trends. Leo XIII argued persuasively that the Church’s mission is not limited to teaching, and that it also concerns the dissemination of relevant content in public and political life. It is not merely economic or concerning everyday life issues that matter for Nations, states and communities are not exclusively preoccupied with economic matters and everyday problems.

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