University and the Culture of the Person
(transl. by P. Mikulska)
Adrian J. REIMERS
University of Notre Dame, Indiana , United StatesAbstract
This article examines Pope John Paul II’s claim in an address to the Catholic University of Lublin (1987) that to serve the truth is to serve the liberation of both the human being and the nation. Drawing on Aristotle’s principle that the mind “is, in a way, all things,” the article argues that education is deeply personal, as the learning of the truth is ineluctably transformative of the person himself. This principle redounds not only to the person who learns but the nation’s culture. Citing John Paul II’s address to UNESCO (1980) we argue that by forming the culture, education serves to develop the nation’s relation to truth. Knowledge of its own culture enables the nation to transcend purely materialistic concerns and collectively to embrace its proper freedom.
Keywords:
education, university, truth, intellect, culture, freedom, John Paul II, AristotleUniversity of Notre Dame, Indiana
