Między fenomenem a fundamentem. Otwarcie na metafizyczny aspekt bytu w encyklice „Fides et ratio”

Abstract

As a great intellectual challenge for our epoch John Paul II presents the importance of metaphysical search for ontological foundations to explain the empirically given world of physical phenomena. Why this transition from phenomena to foundations seems so important to the Pope? In contemporary philosophical research, one could easily notice the domination of pure pragmatism in which basic axiological and ethical question are ignored. On the other hand, the contemporary ideologies proclaiming the so called „death of philosophy” would like to eliminate important metaphysical questions from the domain of our intellectual concern. In such a framework, our culture shaped for centuries by grand metaphysical problems, characteristic for the human species, could be substantially impoverished and reduced to pre-Socratic level. For this reason, our intellectual solidarity in the search for the meaning of human existence remains one of the main challenges of our time.