A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY ON THE PLACE OF VIRTUE ETHICS IN HUMAN FORMATION FOR THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD IN THE 21ST CENTURY
The inquiries concerning the ontological status of man and its implications for human formation for the nobility inherent in human nature become evident have been deliberated and scrutinized by diverse philosophers that defined human nature. It is palpable that Plato accentuated that man is a fallen soul imprisoned in a body and needs liberation. Aristotle called him a rational animal while Severius Boethius and Thomas Aquinas admitted that man is a rational subsistent being. Moreover, Max Scheler and Karol Wojtyla sustained that the human soul makes him an incarnate spirit. A systematic and comprehensive examination of philosophical anthropology of these philosophers unambiguously affirmed that human nature is ontologically composed of body and soul, emotion and reason, material and spiritual entities in such a way that man is neither an animal nor spirit but a rational animal. This unique status serves as a foundation of human formation that can facilitate the attainment of human personality suitable for the candidates of the Catholic priesthood in 21 st century. This paper explores how Aristotelian-Aquinas’ understanding of human nature and virtue ethics can help human formative processes for the seminarians that will later become the intermediaries between God and his people in the field of evangelization, bringing Christ to all and bringing all to Christ.
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