Collectivism, Individualism, and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński’s Personalistic Concept of Man

Abstract

The article debates the issues of collectivism and individualism in the context of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński’s personalistic vision of man. The praxeological approach to Wyszyński’s personalism inscribes the Christian social teaching in post-war Poland’s specific socio-political realities. In this context, a critical analysis of the concept of the human person functioning in the dimension of various ideologies is essential. For that reason, the above article will explain the specificity of the collectivist and individualistic ideology. It allows us to understand better the danger of distorting social life’s vision concerning the Western world’s modern civilization. In this sense, a personalistic idea of human life shows that contemporary social life models, if they are to be shaped “a human measure,” must be based on systems promoting “pro-human” values, inscribed in an authentically humanistic vision of man and citizen.