The Ontological Being (Imago Dei)…
Dasein, Universality of Reason and Acting Person — Heidegger, Kant and Pope John Paul II
“All our knowledge begins with sense, proceeds thence to understanding, and ends with reason, beyond which nothing higher can be discovered in the human mind for elaborating the matter of intuition and subjecting it to the highest unity of thought”…
— Immanuel Kant
“The human person is a unique composite — a unity of spirit and matter, soul and body, fashioned in the image of God and destined to live forever. Every human life is sacred, because every human person is sacred”…
— Pope John Paul II
“Dasein is a being that does not simply occur among other beings. Rather, it is ontically distinguished by the fact that in its Being, this Being is concerned about its very Being. Thus, it is constitutive of the being of Dasein to have, in its very being, a relation of being to this being”…
— Martin Heidegger
“It is this ‘idea of existence’ or ‘light of being’ given to man which constitutes the objectivity of truth, as seen by the human mind. For truth is that which is, as falsehood is that which is not. It is this which makes man intelligent, and gives him a moral law by which he sees the beingness or essence of things, and recognises the duty of his own being,to act toward each being, whether finite or infinite, creature or God, according to the beingness or essence of being which he beholds in the light of the truth of being”…
- Antonio Rosmini
Imago Dei
a theological term, applied uniquely to humans, which denotes the symbolical relation between God and Humanity
Ontology
the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being
Human Being
a member of the human race
The following represents a continuation of the exploration of the ideas of 19th-Century Italian Priest, Theologian and Philosopher Antonio Rosmini and his Triadic of Being — Real Being, Ideal Being and Moral Being that were briefly explored in The Triadic of Being — The Image of God (Human Being).
It draws on three specific ideas from leading Western Civilisation intellectuals:
- 20th Century German Philosopher Martin Heidegger – Dasein;
- 18th-19th Century German Philosopher Immanuel Kant — Universality of Reason; and
- 20th-21st Century Polish Pope Saint John Paul II — Acting Person.
Each of these thinkers provides unique and important perspectives that can be considered in the context of Rosmini’s Triadic of Being.
Dasein: Martin Heidegger — Real Being: Rosmini
“Thus because Dasein is ontico-ontologically prior, its own specific state of Being (if we understand this in the sense of Dasein’s ‘categorial structure’) remains concealed from it. Dasein is ontically ‘closest’ to itself and ontologically farthest; but pre-ontologically it is surely not a stranger”…
— Martin Heidegger
In Heidegger’s Being and Time, the essence of Dasein can be understood as that Being for whom Being is the Question.
Unlike other Beings (das Seiendes), Dasein is a unique capacity inherent in Human Beings.
A unique ability to inquire into the meaning of Being, even though this understanding is often implicit rather than explicitly apparent in daily life.
Therefore, Dasein is ontically closest to itself yet is ontologically farthest.
It is the Being that is most familiar with itself because it is itself (i.e. act of Being), yet it does not have an innate insight into the meaning of its Being (i.e. the Self is not transparent to itself).
Its self-understanding is usually shaped by its immersion in the world and by the structures of everydayness, rather than by philosophical reflection.
Dasein’s essence lies in its existence (i.e. act of Being), which means it is not defined by a static essence (like a thing) or a fixed substance but by its potentiality for Being.
Its ability to project itself toward possibilities of knowing for a Being that is concerned with its own Being.
The breath of Being.
Dasein exists as potentiality for Being, and its Being is always ahead of itself, shaped by its actions, choices, and ideas.
This temporal and existential character distinguishes Dasein from other entities, which are simply what they are.
Through its openness to the world, Dasein allows Beings to appear meaningfully.
In this way, Dasein is not merely one Being among others, but the condition for the intelligibility of Being itself.
This means Dasein not only exists, but its existence is characterised by its relation to Being itself.
Even before engaging in philosophical inquiry, Dasein already has a pre-ontological implicit understanding of Being.
This implicit familiarity forms the basis for any explicit ontological inquiry whereby Dasein lives its Being, noting it does not grasp it reflectively without effort.
Heidegger’s fundamental ontology begins by analysing Dasein as a kind of Being, not to reduce Being to human subjectivity, but because Dasein is the only Being through whom Being becomes intelligible.
Universality of Reason: Immanuel Kant — Ideal Being: Rosmini
“Human reason is by nature architectonic. That is to say, it regards all our knowledge as belonging to a possible system, and therefore allows only such principles as do not at any rate make it impossible for any knowledge that we may attain to combine into a system with other knowledge”…
— Immanuel Kant
Kant viewed Reason operating through a-priori principles — innate forms and categories — that enable experience to become intelligible, rather than being shaped by external experience alone.
The origin of certain concepts and principles is independent from those of sensibility and understanding — ideas of (pure) reason that originate independently of sensibility, such as God, Soul, & ,the World and enables Reason to pursue the highest unity and totality of Human thought.
A coherent, unified representation and unity of the manifold.
Kantian categoric principles, such as quantity, quality, relation and modality enable an understanding of concepts such as unity, reality, causality, existence and necessity, are not derived from the World but are conditions for the possibility of knowing it.
A-priori abstract concepts that facilitate the modern scientific method and its core axioms of causality, determinism and reductionism.
The idea of a universality of reason is expressed in his Critique of Pure Reason and Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, where Kant argues that the structures of cognition and moral judgment are shared by all humans given the transcendental nature of reason.
They provide the a-priori necessary universal categories, structural frameworks and normative moral principles (e.g. categorical imperative — what ought to be) for understanding (i.e. conditions for the possibility of experience fulfilling its proper cognitive character) and acting in the world.
A unifying rational foundation of his theoretical and practical philosophy.
Kant’s critique of Pure Reason recognised the need to go beyond a proto-phenomonological understanding (i.e. experience is structured by the subject) of Reason (Verstand) and beyond the speculative functional elements of Pure Reason (reine Vernunft) to a unified moral form of reasoning that implicitly captures the interplay between Cognition, Understanding & Representation and Experience, Will & Action in the World — a Unity of Being (Aquinas) and a Divine Order.
Kant distinguishes between:
- Verstand (Proto-Phenomonological Understanding (i.e. experience is structured by the subject)) — Unity of Representation (appearances) by means of rules. This is the faculty that organises sensory experience using concepts and categories (such as causality, substance, etc.) into coherent knowledge. It operates within the realm of possible experience and is responsible for making sense of empirical data; and
- Vernunft (Pure Reason (reine Vernunft) & Practical Reason (praktische Vernunft ). Unity of rules by means of principles: This is a higher-order faculty of cognition that seeks ultimate principles and unifying ideas beyond experience. An unconditioned totality. It goes beyond the limits of possible experience, leading to metaphysical inquiry (pure reason) such as truth, being, reality and existence, together with the exploration of foundational questions of human agency (practical reason) such as ethics and morality.
Hence, Kant’s higher-order faculty of Reason (Vernunft) and distinction between reine Vernunft (Pure Reason) and praktische Vernunft (Practical Reason) enables a more granular distinction to be made between theoretical reason, which seeks truth about what is, and practical reason, which seeks truth about what ought to be.
By locating both knowledge and morality within the structure of reason itself, Kant offers an integrated vision of humanity bound together not by tradition, power, or utility, but by the Universality of Reason — a shared capacity to think, judge, and act according to universal principles.
A recognition of an Acting Person (refer below — Pope John Paul II) that sees both realms as governed by Reason:
- Theoretical reason yields objective knowledge through the categories and the forms of intuition (e.g. originating via Peirce — Abduction, Bacon — Induction, and Aristotle — Deduction); and
- Practical reason yields objective moral knowledge through the adoption of moral law (i.e. determine principles of action — categorical imperative — universalised without contradiction).
Thus, moral truth is real and knowable, though it is not empirical — it is grounded in pure practical reason.
A Unity of rules by means of principles and what ought to be.
Kant rejects ethical relativism and grounds morality in the inherent dignity and rationality of each Human Being.
“To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law”…
— Martin Luther King Jr.
Kant draws the relationship between action & experience, understanding & knowing catalysed through a process of reason and the notion of objective truth via his concept of the categorical imperative.
His formulation of the categorical imperative, which requires that one act only according to maxims that could be willed as universal laws, provides a normative principle to Kant’s universality of reason.
“A categorical imperative would be one which represented an action as objectively necessary in itself, without reference to any other purpose”…
— Immanuel Kant
It presupposes that all rational agents can, in principle, recognise and affirm the same moral duties — reason is the faculty that regulates the moral law.
In other words, moral obligation does not rest on subjective feelings or cultural norms but on reason’s capacity to legislate moral law autonomously.
In this way, Kant is opposing ethical relativism and grounds morality in the inherent dignity and rationality of the human person.
Kantian ethics is centred on duty: an action has moral worth only if it is done from duty.
The categorical imperative is not just a moral principle — it expresses practical reason’s recognition of objective moral truth independent of personal desires and necessary & universal.
A kingdom of ends where every rational conscious Being is both subject, legislator and embodied agent of moral law.
Kant’s emphasis on universality also serves as a foundation for his political and cosmopolitan thought.
“All natural capacities of a creature are destined to evolve completely to their natural end.
Observation of both the outward form and inward structure of all animals confirms this of them. An organ that is of no use, an arrangement that does not achieve its purpose, are contradictions in the teleological theory of nature. If we give up this fundamental principle, we no longer have a lawful but an aimless course of nature, and blind chance takes the place of the guiding thread of reason”…
— Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View
In works such as Perpetual Peace and Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan purpose, he envisions the possibility of a just global order through the common possession (universality) of reason by Human Beings.
The universality of reason, however, does not entail infallibility or uniformity in judgment.
Kant acknowledges the limitations and fallibility of individual reasoning, which is why critical reflection and public discourse are essential for moral and epistemic progress.
Nevertheless, the capacity for reason remains universally shared, providing the basis for mutual understanding, critique, and dialogue.
“Enlightenment is man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity. Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another. Such immaturity is self-caused if it is not caused by lack of intelligence, but by lack of determination and courage to use one’s intelligence without being guided by another. Sapere Aude! Have the courage to use your own intelligence! is therefore the motto of the enlightenment”…
— Immanuel Kant
Kant’s universality of reason reflects his commitment to the dignity and freedom of rational beings.
By locating both knowledge and morality within the structure of reason itself, he offers a vision of humanity bound together not by tradition, a Nietzschean will to power, or utility, but by the shared capacity to think, judge, and act according to universal principles.
This insight provides the foundations for modern conceptions of human rights, ethical responsibility, and democratic deliberation.
Acting Person: Pope John Paul II — Moral Being: Rosmini
“You, too, be courageous! The world needs convinced and fearless witnesses. It is not enough to discuss, it is necessary to act!”…
— Pope John Paul II
20th — 21st Century Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła) published in 1969 The Acting Person.
It was his intellectual magnum opus that represents a synthesis of classical metaphysics of medieval theologian and scholastic philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas (Thomistic Philosophy) and contemporary Phenomenology (e.g. Max Scheler: Phenomenology and Meaning of Human Being — Husserl: Intentional Consciousness).
Wojtyła sought to bring a sense of coherence to the Human experience by integrating phenomenology with epistemology and ontology into what is now called Christian Personalism.
The synthesis mirrors the ambitions of Thomas Aquinas, who unified Aristotelian Metaphysics with Christian Theology via Thomism.
The Acting Person is concerned with the relationships between Being, Consciousness, and Cognition and posits that personhood is the most fundamental philosophical ontological concept of Being to understand the nature of existence and Man’s participation in Reality.
Wojtyła implicitly draws on the ideas of Antonio Rosmini to recognise the relationship between Real Being, Ideal Being and Moral Being.
He asserts that our ideas manifest real-world consequences through our actions, and it is through our actions that the person comes into Being.
This Christian Personalism draws together:
- Being-in-the-World: our embodied & relational experience and the consequences of our ideas & actions in the World;
- Cognition and Understanding: the capacity for understanding, objective knowledge and a recognition of the intelligibility of the World; and
- Truth: a normative force that integrates actions, understanding and moral orientation.
Truth, in this framework, is not merely a logical construct but a unifying principle guiding Reason and Moral/Ethical Behaviour.
It reconciles experience & understanding and leads to a sense of coherence for the Person.
A Shift from Rational Animal to a Unity of Being
Wojtyła’s ideas challenges Modern philosophical thoughts’ orientation towards Aristotelian and Cartesian concepts of a Rational Animal that are anchored in the aspects of cognition, abstraction and reductionism to a richer, more integrated vision of the Human Person as a Unity of Being.
In this way, his ideas resonate with Heidegger’s distinction between Present-at-Hand and Being-Ready-to-hand, affirming the primacy of the lived Being over abstract conceptualisation.
Pope John Paul II’s idea of a person is also consistent with Antonio Rosmini, Charles Sanders Peirce and Martin Heidegger, highlighting the foundational pre-ontological ontic nature (i.e. character of the Real and what exists — act of Being (Aristotle & Aquinas)) of Human Being.
“We speak of individual animals, looking upon them simply as single specimens of a particular animal species. And this definition suffices. But it is not enough to define a man as an individual of the species Homo sapiens. And why not? Because each human being is more than just an instance of the human kind; we do not know a human being as person if we know him only in terms of that which is common to all human beings”…
The Holy Father continues:
“The term “person” has been coined to signify that a man cannot be wholly contained within the concept “individual member of the species,” but that there is something more to him, a particular richness and perfection in the manner of his being, which can only be brought out by the use of the word “person””…
- Pope John Paul II
This shift critiques the absolutisation of cognition found in Cartesianism and instead emphasises Man’s ontological and teleological orientation towards Truth and God as the source of that Truth.
Wojtyła maintains that each Human Being is created in the image of God, possessing a unique and irreducible personal dignity.
The Person simply cannot be fully understood through abstract, reductionist frameworks.
In this way, Wojtyła’s vision of personhood, human freedom and responsibility stands in direct contrast to modernist philosophical trends such as Marxism, Materialism, Dialectical Materialism, Positivism, Nominalism, and Nietzschean Perspectivism.
He views human freedom not as unbounded self-will (as in Classical Liberalism or Existential Voluntarism), but as the freedom to pursue self-fulfilment through morally ordered actions.
In this sense, freedom is inherently ethical and the person is called to self-formation through responsibility.
This also contrasts with Marxist or Materialist views of freedom, offering instead a Catholic doctrine of freedom, anchored in truth and oriented toward a communion with God.
Poland’s Influence and the Catholic Understanding of Freedom
Wojtyła’s Polish heritage and Poland’s historical role as a crossroads between Western Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy deeply influenced his thought.
Poland’s resistance to Protestantism and its unique conception of personal freedom contributed to a theology of the person (a Catholic Doctrine of Freedom) that emphasised moral self-fulfilment, national identity, and spiritual integrity — a restoration of the Polish soul’s unity with God.
In this view, Christian Personalism stands not only as a philosophical framework but also as a theological and cultural response to modern ideologies that undermine human dignity.
It affirms the Church’s role as both a sign and a safeguard of the transcendent dignity of the human person.
Operari Sequitur Esse and the Dynamics of Action
Central to Wojtyła’s philosophical method is the classical principle operari sequitur esse — action follows Being.
Grounded in Thomistic thought, this axiom asserts that one must first exist in order to act.
Wojtyła expands on this by suggesting that self-realisation occurs throught action (i.e. Potential Being — Human Person becomes more fully themselves through ethically grounded, conscious actions).
This leads to the core claim of The Acting Person: human acts are not merely external or behavioral events but are expressions of the inner life, deeply embedded in consciousness and intentionality.
He rejects any mechanistic or causal view of human behavior, affirming instead that actions shape the moral character and identity of the person.
Through this integration of Thomistic metaphysics and Modern phenomenology, Wojtyła introduces a dynamic, relational, and intentional conception of consciousness — one that bridges the subjective and the objective, the internal and the external, the personal and the communal.
One that recognises the Human Person’s participation in Reality.
Key Concepts in The Acting Person
- Self-Determination: The human person becomes more fully themselves through free, conscious, and morally ordered actions. This is not existentialist freedom, but a fulfilment of one’s nature within an objective moral order;
- Intentional Consciousness: Influenced by Husserl and Scheler, Wojtyła sees consciousness not as a Cartesian ego, but as a functional, relational, directed structure through which the Human Person encounters the World and God;
- Participation: The Human Person is not a self-contained unit but a Being-in-Community, called to communion;
- Ethical Responsibility: Moral actions shape the self, with virtue playing a central role in the formation of authentic personality; and
- Integration of Experience and Truth: Echoing Augustine, Wojtyła emphasises that truth is discovered not in abstraction, but via a lived experience and relationship with God.
Philosophical Lineage and Legacy
Wojtyła’s personalist philosophy draws from and contributes to a rich tradition:
- Thomism (via Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange & Wojtyła First Doctorate — Doctrina de fide apud Sanctum Ioannem a Cruce (Doctrine of Faith According to Saint John of the Cross));
- Phenomenology (via Max Scheler, Husserl, and his Second Major Academic Work — An Evaluation of the Possibility of Constructing a Christian Ethics on the Basis of the System of Max Scheler);
- Platonic Methodology and Classical Realism (affirming an absolute, objective truth); and
- Augustinian Reflection (emphasising the inner life and the experience of God).
Christian Personalism is critical of Marxism, National Socialism and Classical Liberalism.
It recognises the role of the Church as a sign and safeguard of the transcendent character of the Human Person.
A recognition of the relationship between human dignity, freedom and truth.
God as the source of truth and a Divine Order of Things.
In his second major academic work, Wojtyła asked whether a Christian ethical system could be constructed solely on Scheler’s phenomenology? — and ultimately concluded that it could not.
Nevertheless, he advanced Thomist philosophy by incorporating the subjective insights of phenomenology into a coherent metaphysical and ethical system.
This synthesis, known as Christian Personalism, places the Person — created in the image of God — at the centre of philosophical reflection and personal development.
It affirms that through morally conscious action, Human Beings not only shape the World but also define & form their inner selves.
Conclusion
“Our hearts are restless, O God, until they rest in you”…
— St Augustine
The Acting Person represents a landmark in 20th-century Catholic thought.
It bridges the gap between objective moral truth and subjective personal experience, establishing a framework where the Person becomes the locus of being, meaning, knowing, morality, and spiritual fulfillment.
He does not reject metaphysics but rather integrates it through an analysis of consciousness, experience, and intentionality.
Human actions, he insists, are not merely effects of causal processes but are intentional conscious expressions of the person’s inner life.
This personalistic approach places the human person at the centre of ethical and metaphysical reflection and action.
Man as the author of his own actions.
The recognition that Man must strive for an integrated expression of his nature.
A profound shift beyond the absolutisation of one aspect of Man (e.g. Rational Animal — Cartesianism and a mental structure perspective of Man’s existence) to a view that begins to integrate other aspects of being Human including Man’s Being in the World and higher-order teological orientation towards Truth & God.
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