Volume 4, 1999
Mary Shivanandan
Pages 23-33
The Anthropology of John Paul II and Social Science
In this engaging study Mary Shivanandan explores the attempt by Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) to reconcile the growing tension between abstract philosophy and empirical science. Shivanandan first provides a brief history of the methodology of sociology as indicative of the growing trend in the social sciences to divorce its theories from anything subjective. Trying to confine the study of the human person to objective, predictable systems neglects the reality that the person combines subjectivity with objectivity. Wojtyla posits a new anthropology that takes into account man's subjective experiences while acknowledging his bodily, objective existence.