Truth, Freedom, and Self-Determination: Person and Act as a Meta-Ethics for Veritatis Splendor

Abstract

The encyclical Veritats splendor is a theological writing but contains many philosophical and ethical ideas. It undertakes many fundamental moral issues and, in this way, gives answers to some progressive tendencies in the moral Catholic theology, particularly operating in Europe and America. The article traces some of these issues, e. g. new proposals of the relation between truth and freedom, fundamental option, or new tendencies in understanding the structure of moral act. Then, it shows that papal corrections and critical comments present in the document have long roots in his philosophical writings, particularly in his main anthropological treatise Person and Act. The article confirms, more generally, that many ethical investigations, including those belonging to theological ethics, have their background in metaphysical and anthropological assumptions. Consequently, there is, in principle, an interplay between reason and faith, philosophy and theology. That is what makes Catholic thought strong and attractive.