Werke in acht Bänden by Josef Pieper

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 167 Werke in acht Biinden. By JOSEF PIEPER. Edited by BERTHOLD WALD. Vol. 3: Schriften zum Philosophiebegriff(Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1995). Pp. vi + 345. DM 76.- (cloth). ISBN 3-7873-1223-4. Vol. 4: Schriften zur Philosophischen Anthropologie und Ethik: Das Menschenbild der Tugendlehre (Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1996). Pp. vi + 442. DM 96.- (cloth). ISBN: 3-7873-1224-2. The third volume of the complete works of Josef Pieper assembles diverse writings spanning a period of several decades and systematically treating the notion of philosophy (What is Philosophy?, In Defense ofPhilosophy), as well as interpretation, tradition, language, the Platonic concept of philosophy, and the future of philosophy. Among these the reader will discover two previously unpublished essays: a discussion of the Heideggerian notion of truth and an essay on intellectual work and philosophical formation. This volume also contains an instructive postface written by the editor which brings out the originality of Pieper's point of departure against the backdrop of contemporary (especially analytic and hermeneutical) philosophy. Pieper defines the philosophical act as a reflection upon the totality of that which the subject experiences, both sensually and intuitively. This totality of reality is considered in its ultimate significance, in its deepest roots, and in all its aspects. In contrast to the scientist who, at least theoretically, is able to find definitive responses to the questions he raises, the philosopher treads upon an unending path. Unable to emerge from the state of astonishment which is natural to him and which determines his vocation, he never entirely understands the aspect of the real upon which he focuses his attention. "The philosophical act begins at the boundary where knowledge and the unfathomable touch; it begins with the grasping of the incomprehensibility of the world and Dasein" (125; cf. 80, 119ff., 128ff., 17, 51ff., 53, 56). This unfathomability of the world follows as a consequence of the distinction between res naturalis and res artificialis. Referring to the Sartrean position according to which "there is no human nature, because there is no God to conceive it" (173ff.), Pieper affirms the intrinsic relation between the nature of a res and an intellect, between existence and a will, and maintains that the intellect and will at the origin of the res naturales are those of God. It is certainly natural to the human being to know all things insofar as his intellect is capax universi. Having thereby access to the essence of beings, he seizes their "after-forms." He cannot, however, know the analogy between the after-forms and the pre-form which lies in the creating intellect: rerum essentiae sunt nobis ignotae. The impossibility of fully comprehending the ultimate foundation of the world and of existence-which Pieper explains in terms of a metaphysic of the creation, the heart of his philosophy-does not require that the search of wisdom be conducted with agnostic resignation or despair, but that hope be its certain guide (38-39, 51ff., 128f., 135f., 151). 168 BOOK REVIEWS Pieper desires to preserve a metaphysical dimension ofbeing and gift present not only in the philosophical act but also in celebration, poetry, leisure, art, etc. In a world that is increasingly dominated by the categories of utility, efficiency, and production and that, by the exclusion of all nondirected activity, threatens to become totalitarian, the true philosophical question takes on the character of an intellectual luxury, a useless activity; senseless, at best, it is regarded as possibly harmful or even dangerous, since it neglects or even prohibits the concrete and practical goals of daily life (86, 90ff.). Philosophy is not the "knowledge of a servant" but the "knowledge of a gentleman" (Newman). The existential astonishment that it necessarily implies is opposed to the embourgeoisement of thought which accepts the nearest reality as ultimate and no longer perceives the world of essences and the ultimate sense of encountered realities. It is characterized by a total or partial calling into question of one's comprehension of the world, of one's place therein, and of the significance of one's life. This "anti-bourgeois upheaval," which Pieper likewise refers to as a "de-proletarianization," can be effected in many ways, but especially in...