From experience to a method. The significance of Karol Wojtyła’s habilitation dissertation in the development of his concept of philosophical cognition of man

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to show the significance of Wojtyła’s habilitation dissertation in the development of his concept of philosophical cognition of man. His assessment of the usefulness of Scheler’s ethical system for Christian ethics occupies an intermediate position between the demand to take into account first-person experience in cognition in his initial phase of practising philosophy and the proposal to use the phenomenological method to analyse this experience, and the transition from experience to a system, contained in Person and Act. In his habilitation dissertation, Wojtyła analysed the question of man’s inner experience, emphasising its significance for ethics and anthropology. A proper approach to this experience is possible through the phenomenological method. The analysis of Scheler’s system allowed Wojtyła to conclude that although the use of the phenomenological method is necessary in philosophical cognition, it is not sufficient. This method does not cover everything that experience brings. It should also be applied appropriately so that the essential contents of experience are not overlooked. He showed a concrete manner of application of this method to philosophical cognition, and of the combination of this method with the metaphysical method in Person and Act.