Prawda przynoszona przez Logos z prologu Ewangelii według św. Jana a horyzonty ludzkiej wiedzy (ujęcie według Jana Pawła II)

Abstract

The purpose of the prologue in the gospel according to John is to reveal God in the Logos. The fourth evangelist claims that the incarnation of the Logos shows people the revelation of „grace and truth” (John 1,17). This article attempts to answer the question how the truth of the Logos influences the human scientific process of knowledge acquisition according to John Paul II. Firstly the Old Testament roots of the comprehension of the Logos were presented. Secondly the personification of the Word taken usually for God’s Wisdom was emphasized together with the tradition of wisdom teaching aimed at putting the knowledge and life experience in the order of God’s Wisdom. By calling Jesus the Logos John tried to show that the Logos is at the foundation of Creation and He also makes the structures of the world exist. It implies that human knowledge cannot ignore the truth of the Logos while exploring the mystery of everything that exists. The Logos seems to be the only foundation of knowledge and rationality of the order of things. The structure of the space should be investigated in such a way so that a human being could respond to the truth of the Logos. The Logos makes human knowledge open to transcendence and compatible with the criterion of truthfulness. According to John Paul II it is necessary to acquire an integral attitude to human knowledge in order to face the truth of the Logos. Contemporaries, however, concentrate on more and more narrow scientific branches and they are under the influence of scientism, positivism, utilitarianism, nihilism, postmodernistic tendencies and uncritical pluralism. As a result the process of the knowledge integration and general sense search is inhibited. John Paul II claims that the Logos reflects the truth in the mystery of existence and knowledge should give access to the truth. Moreover, the transmission of knowledge should be based on wisdom and lead to the discovery of the sense of existence, apart from giving professional competences. In the light of the Logos it is possible to have a general view on the perspective of human knowledge.