Metaphysics is not often spoken of as a venue for dialogue about anything, let alone culture or religion, which are more readily associated with phenomenology or hermeneutics in contemporary thinking. This collection of essays, however, by the late Boston College philosopher Oliva Blanchette, maintains the absolute necessity of metaphysics as a prerequisite for examining any particular 'realm of being,' in all areas of human inquiry, from the particular sciences to historical cultures and religions. Blanchette proposes metaphysics as a fundamental and necessary level of intelligence presupposed in any exercise of judgment, discourse, or dialogue, among rational beings. At the same time, he defends the idea that dialogue is the first and most fundamental form in which such reasoning takes place in human experience, on a radically intersubjective level through language. Metaphysics is not an abstraction removed from human experience. Rather, it is a science in its own right defining itself in relation to 'being as being', its subject matter, as it depends on all the particular sciences and bodies of knowledge. Firmly standing on the ground of human experience, and on the human person as primary analogate of being, it opens up an entire realm of questioning that the particular sciences and bodies of knowledge, operating in functional separation, cannot pose on their own, especially when they take, in a reductionist fashion, their own object to be the prime analogate. Metaphysics, in fact, insinuates itself into each and every particular science in exploring its own subject matter of 'being as being' in the analogical sense, advancing to more and more complex stages of analogy through dialogue among different spirits and cultures, and reaching its terminus in the transcendent aspect of spirit and religion. In this sense, metaphysics has much to say to theologians: without metaphysics, theology reduces to mere superstition.

Gaston Fessard, S.J. (1897-1978), was a major mid-twentieth century French intellectual. He was a Hegel expert, but also wrote on issues of the day ranging from the Vichy regime to Christian-Marxist dialogue. The product of several decades of reflection, Fessard's work on the Dialectic of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is the only one of its kind, a careful and penetrating study into the structure and tension of life-changing choices that Ignatius had in mind in his four week spiritual exercises. The Exercises insist on the way of making a spiritual Election, or choice in keeping with God's will for oneself and for the Christian community at a particular moment in one's existence.

Intersubjective Existence, as the author notes, aims, first, to develop a wisdom about human life that takes the form of a theory of selfhood and, second, to reflect on what is called for in the ethical practice of human existence. Secondly, the ethical implications of this theory of selfhood are explored, specifically looking at conscience, prudential reasoning, justice, friendship, the law, temperance, courage, and concluding with a brief treatment of religion. Olivia Blanchette charts the path of his inquiry through an analysis of reflective self-consciousness in selves communing with one another. They are constituted in their substance as a union of body and soul, with intelligence and free will that give rise to cultures in communion with other selves. These cultures are over and above what is given to each self in sense consciousness and in sense appetites and which each one contends with in the exercise of selfhood and the rights that go with that in keeping with justice. Concern for right reasoning and justice leads to an analysis of temperance and courage. The chief arguments take the form of phenomenological reflections on the building blocks of the perennial philosophy. Blanchette recasts Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics from the perspective of a phenomenology of the mutual recognition of agents and the historical consciousness to which it gives rise.

This new edition of the English translation of Maurice Blondel's Action (1893) remains a philosophical classic. Action was once a common theme in philosophical reflection. It figured prominently in Aristotelian philosophy, and the medieval Scholastics built some of their key adages around it. But by the time French philosopher Maurice Blondel came to focus on it at the end of the nineteenth century, it had all but disappeared from the philosophical vocabulary. Today, it is no longer possible or legitimate to ignore action in philosophy as it was when Blondel defended and published his doctoral dissertation and most influential work, L'Action: Essai d'une critique de la vie et d'une science de la pratique (1893). Oliva Blanchette's definitive English translation of Action was first published in 1984 to critical acclaim. This new edition contains Blanchette's translation, corrections of minor errors in the first edition, and a new preface from the translator, describing what makes this early version of Action unique in all of Blondel's writings and what has kept it in the forefront of those interested in studying Blondel and his philosophy of Christian religion. Action (1893) will appeal to philosophers, theologians, and those looking for spiritual reading, and it is an excellent study in reasoning for the more scientifically inclined.

Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion is a translation of two of Maurice Blondel’s essays. Blondel’s thinking played a significant role in the deliberations and arguments of the Second Vatican Council. Although a towering figure in the history of twentieth-century Catholic thought, the later systematic works of Maurice Blondel have been largely inaccessible in the English-speaking world. Oliva Blanchette, who previously translated Blondel’s early groundbreaking work Action (1893), now offers the first English translation of Blondel’s final work to be published, Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion. This work of transition from mere philosophy to a consideration of Christian religion consists of two main essays, The Christian Sense and the shorter On Assimilation, followed by a Reconsideration and Global View and an Appendix: Clarifications and Admonitions written in answer to an inquiry by a young scholar about method. The first essay explores the Christian sense of the spiritual life and how Christian religion, even as supernatural, can come under the purview of critical philosophy. The second essay examines the move from analogy to assimilation in speaking of the Christian life. Blondel tackles the question: How does the human spirit combine with the divine spirit in such a way that neither is lost in the process? Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion is critical for understanding Blondel’s thought. This high-quality translation and Blanchette’s concise preface will appeal not only to philosophers and theologians but also to spiritual writers and directors of spiritual retreats in the Ignatian and Jesuit traditions.

This new edition of the English translation of Maurice Blondel's Action (1893) remains a philosophical classic. Action was once a common theme in philosophical reflection. It figured prominently in Aristotelian philosophy, and the medieval Scholastics built some of their key adages around it. But by the time French philosopher Maurice Blondel came to focus on it at the end of the nineteenth century, it had all but disappeared from the philosophical vocabulary. Today, it is no longer possible or legitimate to ignore action in philosophy as it was when Blondel defended and published his doctoral dissertation and most influential work, L'Action: Essai d'une critique de la vie et d'une science de la pratique (1893). Oliva Blanchette's definitive English translation of Action was first published in 1984 to critical acclaim. This new edition contains Blanchette's translation, corrections of minor errors in the first edition, and a new preface from the translator, describing what makes this early version of Action unique in all of Blondel's writings and what has kept it in the forefront of those interested in studying Blondel and his philosophy of Christian religion. Action (1893) will appeal to philosophers, theologians, and those looking for spiritual reading, and it is an excellent study in reasoning for the more scientifically inclined.

Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion is a translation of two of Maurice Blondel's essays. Blondel's thinking played a significant role in the deliberations and arguments of the Second Vatican Council. Although a towering figure in the history of twentieth-century Catholic thought, the later systematic works of Maurice Blondel have been largely inaccessible in the English-speaking world. Oliva Blanchette, who previously translated Blondel's early groundbreaking work Action (1893), now offers the first English translation of Blondel's final work to be published, Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion. This work of transition from mere philosophy to a consideration of Christian religion consists of two main essays, The Christian Sense and the shorter On Assimilation, followed by a Reconsideration and Global View and an Appendix: Clarifications and Admonitions written in answer to an inquiry by a young scholar about method. The first essay explores the Christian sense of the spiritual life and how Christian religion, even as supernatural, can come under the purview of critical philosophy. The second essay examines the move from analogy to assimilation in speaking of the Christian life. Blondel tackles the question: How does the human spirit combine with the divine spirit in such a way that neither is lost in the process? Philosophical Exigencies of Christian Religion is critical for understanding Blondel's thought. This high-quality translation and Blanchette's concise preface will appeal not only to philosophers and theologians but also to spiritual writers and directors of spiritual retreats in the Ignatian and Jesuit traditions.

Ever since Kant, attempts to close down metaphysical inquiry in philosophy have proliferated. Yet the interest in metaphysics persists and is showing signs of resurgence among students concerned with raising the most basic questions about life and being as a whole. This book is an attempt to reopen the fundamental question of being and to pursue that question in a way that is critical and systematic. Oliva Blanchette begins by establishing the necessity of raising the question of being as being after the natural sciences and phenomenology have run their course and pursuing it according to a method that is properly metaphysical as well as critical. He then proceeds to examine how we think of being according to a logic that is at once universal and concrete leading to a transcendental conception of being as analogous. After elaborating on the properties of being as one, active, true, and good, the author inquires into the structure of being and its constitutive principles as becoming and as finite. This brings him to a consideration of how being is communicated among a plurality and a diversity of beings according to a universal order of nature and history. Blanchette concludes by showing the necessity of raising the question of a totally transcendent Being at the end of metaphysics and of answering the question in the affirmative, even though the essence of what we are affirming escapes the grasp of our understanding. The discourse is thus shown to have a beginning, a middle, and an end of interest to anyone concerned with the defense of metaphysics not only as having a standing in philosophy but also as arriving at such a standing only through a critical reflection on being as given in experience. It requires a special interest in raising the universal question of being, but it is accessible to anyone who has arrived at the point of exercising critical judgment about what there is in reality in the course of any investigation that is scientific or phenomenological.

Action was once a prominent theme in philosophical reflection. It figured prominently in Aristotelian philosophy, and the medieval Scholastics built some of their key adages around it. But by the time Maurice Blondel came to focus on it for his own philosophical reflection, it had all but disappeared from the philosophical vocabulary. It is no longer possible or legitimate to ignore action in philosophy as it was in France when Blondel appeared on the scene in 1882, when at the age of 21 he first began to focus on action as a dissertation subject, and in 1893, when he defended and published the dissertation now presented here for the English reader.

French philosopher Maurice Blondel had a tremendous impact on both philosophy and religion over the first half of the twentieth century. He was at once a postmodern critical philosopher and a devout traditional Catholic, trying not only to reconcile these two seemingly disparate factors in his own mind, but also to prove to others that the two must go together. / In the first critical examination of the philosopher's life Oliva Blanchette tells the story of Blondel's stormy life confronting an Academy dismissive of religion and a Religion uncomfortable with rational philosophy. This book not only follows his biographical history, but also presents his systematic philosophy, from the beginning of his journey to the culmination found in Philosophical Exigencies of Christianity, the book for which he signed the publishing contract the day before he died. / Maurice Blondel is part of the Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought series, edited by David L. Schindler.