Vi sono ragioni della libertà note al cuore e all’intelletto: il triplo sguardo sulla libertà espresso nei Ritiri spirituali di Parigi di Józef Tischner

Abstract

In its analysis of human freedom, Józef Tischner’s philosophy poses fundamental questions 
 about the essence of freedom, but also about the sense of preservation of freedom in one’s 
 life. Freedom appears as a primary phenomenon, something that is part and parcel of 
 human nature. Freedom as a structural element of human existence manifests itself perhaps 
 most clearly in the sphere of human relations, which, immersed as they are in the eternal 
 drama of good and evil, are played out in the space between salvation and damnation. 
 The binary character of values, best seen in our use of freedom, keeps us for ever mindful 
 of that unavoidable drama a man has to face, owing to his freedom, need not be helpless.
 Using such categories as election, space and health of the soul in his Rekolekcje 
 Paryskie, Tischner approaches the definition of freedom through a succession of essential 
 modifications which articulate some fundamental points concerning relations between 
 people and man’s relations with God from an anthropological, axiological, ethical, social and theological perspective. Tischner proposes no definitive interpretation of freedom 
 but, viewing the controversy over freedom as one of the most difficult problems in the 
 philosophy of man, he tries to show what man’s inner freedom consists in and what 
 achievements it makes man capable of.