It is a 20th century philosophical current whose inspiration is found in the Christian view of the human being. In this sense, Christianity gives the individual an absolute value, as it believes that the person must be the center of any explanation of reality , since the human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Personalism
The idea of the person is the focus of this philosophical approach. In this sense, the person is characterized by an idea of transcendence of which we are considered individuals beyond our own individual consciousness .
Personal relationships are governed by the presence or absence of love. In this way, the idea of love allows us to configure a community of people.
Personalism opposes materialism and pantheism
Like most philosophical currents, personalism is a view that is opposed to others. In this case, materialism and pantheism are the two currents opposed by the personalist philosophers.
Different forms of materialism assert that matter is the fundamental principle of reality. From the line of personalism, it is stated that the idea of the person cannot be reduced to a set of simply material explanations. In this sense, Mounier’s personalism states that the idea of the person should not be conceived as a substance, but based on the life experience of each individual.
According to pantheism reality must be understood in its totality, in such a way that nature and God are the same thing. In opposition to this point of view, personalism considers that the individual cannot be diluted in a single moment of a whole.
Twentieth-century personalism is the result of several earlier philosophical traditions.
In Platonic philosophy there is already a precedent for personalism. Plato believes that Love is the force that drives the human being to Ideals.
In Christian philosophy, the idea of God is not understood as something abstract , but rather as a personal being who communicates with men.
The 20th century personalist movement is inspired by the vision of Thomas Aquinas, a medieval Christian philosopher who reflected on the notion of the person. According to Aquino, human nature is of a rational type and each individual is a person for two main reasons: because man is an ethical being who can distinguish between good and evil and because man is a free being who can decide the course of your life.
