Josef Pieper Livres

Qu'est-ce que le loisir ? Quel sens peut-il avoir aujourd'hui, dans notre société consommatrice de divertissement ? Platon et Aristote ont toujours vu dans le loisir, au sens de la skholè grecque (l'otium latin), un temps consacré à ce qui était pour eux la plus noble activité de l'homme : la contemplation du monde et des dieux. Ecrit au sortir de la guerre, alors que l'Europe était à reconstruire, cet essai met en lumière la nature véritable du loisir et sa part indispensable dans l'élaboration d'une société respectueuse de la personne humaine et de ses aspirations les plus profondes. Dans un monde qui a " fait du travail lui-même un culte ", face aux falsifications modernes du loisir avec ses " jours de fête artificiels fabriqués par les pouvoirs publics ", Josef Pieper rappelle que " c'est uniquement au sein du temps de fête que l'essence du loisir peut se déployer et s'accomplir. Séparé du domaine du culte, de sa célébration et de sa force de rayonnement, le loisir ne peut pas plus éclore que la fête ; sans lien avec le culte, le loisir devient oiseux et le travail inhumain. "

La réalité et le bien et De la vérité des choses forment un diptyque lumineux sur l'anthropologie de saint Thomas d'Aquin et ses principes fondateurs du bien agir pour l'homme. Comme le souligne Albert-Henri Kühlem dans sa préface : "Pour Pieper, la philosophie n'est pas d'abord une affaire de gymnastique cérébrale, mais sert à l'approche de la réalité et en même temps à la réalisation existentielle de l'homme." Avec lucidité, Josef Pieper montre comment toute réalité se positionne entre l'esprit de Dieu et l'esprit de l'homme, faisant d'elle la mesure de toute connaissance humaine. La réalité est ainsi le fondement du bien et, dès lors, la norme de la conscience et de l'action éthique. On trouvera ainsi dans ces textes une des meilleures présentations de l'articulation de la vérité théorique et de la vérité pratique, préalable à toute action féconde.

Pieper is acclaimed as one of the most popular modern scholastic philosophers of our age and widely read by scholars and common readers everywhere. This brilliant work synthesizes the meaning of philosophy as it pertains to our modern era, and responds to the spiritual needs and searching of modern man.

The collection features Josef Pieper's renowned treatises exploring the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. Celebrated as a leading Thomist philosopher of the twentieth century, Pieper delves into the significance and interconnections of these virtues, offering profound insights that resonate with both philosophical and spiritual dimensions. This unified edition presents a comprehensive understanding of these essential aspects of human experience, making it a valuable resource for those interested in philosophy and theology.

Foreword by Hans Urs von Balthasar Near the end of a long career as one of the most widely read popular Thomistic philosophers of the twentieth century, Josef Pieper has himself compiled an anthology from all his works. He has selected the best and most representative passages and arranged them in an order that gives sense to the whole and aids in the understanding of each excerpt. Pieper's reputation rests on his remarkable ability to restate traditional wisdom in terms of contemporary problems. He is a philosopher who writes in the language of common sense, presenting involved issues in a clear, lucid and simple manner. Among his many well-known works included in this anthology are selections from The Basis of Culture , The Four Cardinal Virtues , About Love , Belief and Faith , Happiness and Contemplation , and Scholasticism . Below is a list of the selection Human AuthenticityThe Two Sides of the Coin That Is TruthThe Freedom of Philosophy and Its AdversariesFree Space in the World of WorkTruths-Known and BelievedThe Reality of the Holy"Finis" Means Both End and Goal 

Delivers a stimulating quartet of essays on the four cardinal virtues. Josef Pieper demonstrates the unsound overvaluation of moderation that has made contemporary morality a hollow convention and points out the true significance of the Christian virtues.

In this stimulating and still-timely study, Josef Pieper takes up a theme of paramount importance to his thinking—that festivals belong by rights among the great topics of philosophical discussion. As he develops his theory of festivity, the modern age comes under close and painful scrutiny. It is obvious that we no longer know what festivity is, namely, the celebration of existence under various symbols.Pieper exposes the pseudo-festivals, in their harmless and their sinister forms: traditional feasts contaminated by commercialism; artificial holidays created in the interest of merchandisers; holidays by coercion, decreed by dictators the world over; festivals as military demonstrations; holidays empty of significance. And lastly we are given the apocalyptic vision of a nihilistic world which would seek its release not in festivities but in destruction.Formulated with Pieper's customary clarity and elegance, enhanced by brilliantly chosen quotations, this is an illuminating contribution to the understanding of traditional and contemporary experience.

"The ultimate of human happiness is to be found in contemplation". In offering this proposition of Thomas Aquinas to our thought, Josef Pieper uses traditional wisdom in order to throw light on present-day reality and present-day psychological problems. What, in fact, does one pursue in pursuing happiness? What, in the consensus of the wisdom of the early Greeks, of Plato and Aristotle, of the New Testament, of Augustine and Aquinas, is that condition of perfect bliss toward which all life and effort tend by nature? In this profound and illuminating inquiry, Pieper considers the nature of contemplation, and the meaning and goal of life.