A Philosophical Concern: The Council of Chalcedon, Person, and Nature
Grau, Alain
A Philosophical Concern: The Council of Chalcedon, Person, and Nature - 2004.
57
The notion of the “person” has currently become in a certain manner quite fuzzy. The only pertinence the notion seems to have is the usage made of it for legitimating or invalidating this or that position concerning contemporary ethical problems. Yet such a usage proves to be unsatisfying for its lack of ability to truly question this notion’s relation with that of “nature,” which is specified, if need be, as being human. And yet, in the history of the world there exists a being, Jesus of Nazareth, of whom it is affirmed that, for him, the relation between nature and person is not in and of itself apposite, which seems to be the case with other humans. This relation is put forward in a striking way in catholic theology, more precisely by the council held at Chalcedon in AD 451. Examination of this conciliar text may at first disturb philosophy in rendering delicate, even uncertain, the relation between “nature” and “person.” But it seems to us that in allowing itself to be so disturbed, philosophy will be able to find a new way of thinking about the “person” beyond the masks which traditionally serve as stand-ins.
A Philosophical Concern: The Council of Chalcedon, Person, and Nature - 2004.
57
The notion of the “person” has currently become in a certain manner quite fuzzy. The only pertinence the notion seems to have is the usage made of it for legitimating or invalidating this or that position concerning contemporary ethical problems. Yet such a usage proves to be unsatisfying for its lack of ability to truly question this notion’s relation with that of “nature,” which is specified, if need be, as being human. And yet, in the history of the world there exists a being, Jesus of Nazareth, of whom it is affirmed that, for him, the relation between nature and person is not in and of itself apposite, which seems to be the case with other humans. This relation is put forward in a striking way in catholic theology, more precisely by the council held at Chalcedon in AD 451. Examination of this conciliar text may at first disturb philosophy in rendering delicate, even uncertain, the relation between “nature” and “person.” But it seems to us that in allowing itself to be so disturbed, philosophy will be able to find a new way of thinking about the “person” beyond the masks which traditionally serve as stand-ins.
Réseaux sociaux