Saturday, October 27, 2007

Love and the Human Person

John Crosby discusses the philosophy of Dietrich von Hildebrand on love and the intrinsic value of the human person.
Now we find this idea also in von Hildebrand's treatise on love, the last philosophical book that he published in his lifetime. He insists here that love is a value-response to the beauty of a beloved person; in loving the other I do not take the beloved person only as beneficial for me, only as filling out what I lack, but as worthy and splendid in his or her own right. It follows that love is an eminently personal act; it is eminently personal because it is eminently self-transcending. To this extent we see von Hildebrand continuing in this late work along the line of his earlier work.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent thoughts to ponder especially in this age of self promotion and 'what's in it for me'. And isn't that how Our Heavenly Father sees us?

elena maria vidal said...

Oh, yes, and that is how we should see each other. But I think sometimes we get bogged down on the level of feelings....

Anonymous said...

The Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project is supported by Pope Benedict and is doing quite well.

I was taught Philosophy of the Human Person by Dr. John Crosby. Wonderful course.

elena maria vidal said...

Yes, I believe I once met Dr. Crosby when I was visiting friends in Steubenville. Wasn't he on EWTN for a while?

Anonymous said...

At this link you will find John Crosby's first impressions of Dietrich von Hildebrand. Funny, my first impressions of John Crosby and knowing him as I have for many years, he is exactly like his mentor, von Hildebrand.

http://www.hildebrandlegacy.org/main.cfm?EID=85#ACMember

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry I didn't answer your question in the body of the last post: yes, he was on EWTN.