Ethics and Metaphysics in the Philosophy of Edith Stein: Applications and Implications (Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences, 12)

✍ Scribed by Michael F. Andrews (editor), Antonio Calcagno (editor)

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 241
• Edition: 1st ed. 2022
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book is dedicated to Edith Stein (1891–1942), who is known widely for her contributions to metaphysics. Though she never produced a dedicated work on questions of ethics, her corpus is replete with pertinent reflections. 

This book is the first major scholarly volume dedicated to exploring Stein’s ethical thought, not only for its wide-ranging content, from her earlier to later works, but also for its applications to such fields as psychology, theology, education, politics, law, and culture. Leading international scholars come together to provide a systematic account of Stein’s ethics, highlighting its relation to Stein’s highly developed and complex metaphysics. Questions about the good, evil, the rights and ethical comportment of the person, the state, and feminism are addressed. 

The book appeals to scholars interested in the history of philosophical and ethical thought

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contents
1 Introduction
Part I Ethics
2 Edith Stein and Catholic Social Teaching
2.1 Stein’s Interest in Social Issues
2.2 Dignity of the Human Person
2.2.1 Association
2.2.2 Participation
2.2.3 Solidarity
2.2.4 Care of Creation
2.2.5 The Neighbor
2.2.6 Concluding Thoughts
References
3 Putting the Emotion Back into Empathy: Edith Stein’s Understanding of Empathy Applied to Contemporary Issues
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Challenging Science
3.3 Terrorism
3.4 Stein’s Theory of Empathy
3.5 Polish War Diaries
3.6 Conclusion
References
4 Mystical God-Forsakenness and the Ethics of Solidarity
4.1 Stein as Mystic
4.2 The Roots of a Steinian Mysticism: To Know and to Love God
4.3 The Interior Roots of Ethical Action
4.4 On Dark Contemplation and “Mystical God-Forsakenness”
4.5 The Ethics of Solidarity and the Interior Life
4.6 The Way of Benedicta of the Cross
4.7 Conclusion
References
5 Love Divined: Discerning a Contemplative Ethic in the Philosophy of Edith Stein
5.1 Part One: Mindfulness: Empathy and Freedom at Work
5.1.1 Empathy
5.1.2 Freedom
5.2 Part Two: The Heart of Matter
5.2.1 Grace
5.2.2 Purity of Heart
5.3 Part Three: Discerning a Contemplative Ethic
5.3.1 Call and Response
5.3.2 Contemplation and Action as an Operative Force for Good in the World
5.3.3 Discriminative Discernment
5.3.4 Conclusion: Relational Awareness of Eternal Being
References
6 Person in Community, Repentance, and Historical Meaning: From an Individual to a Social Ethics in Stein’s Early Phenomenological Treatises
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Value, Personal Unfolding, and Individual Ethics in the Early Stein
6.3 The Sociality of Ethical Life: Meaning, Value, and Repentance in Stein’s Social Ethics
6.4 Conclusion
References
Part II Metaphysics
7 The Empathetic Gaze: A Steinian Approach to the Study of Religion
References
8 Edith Stein’s Concept of Soul Revisited
8.1 Stein Versus Aristotle on the General Vision of Soul
8.2 Stein’s Appropriation of Teresa’s Model of Soul
8.3 Aristotelian Response
8.4 Language of Thomas on the Soul
8.5 Spirit-Matter Versus Soul-Matter
8.6 Conclusion
References
9 The Relationship Between Good and Being in Edith Stein’s Metaphysics
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The Human Spiritual Dimension
9.2.1 Essentiality, Essence and Actual-Real Being
9.2.2 Essence and Singularity
9.3 Theory of Being [Seinslehre]
9.3.1 Essence, Existence, Creation
9.3.2 From Essence to Existence
9.4 “Moral Interiority”
9.4.1 The Human Spirit as Self-knowledge
9.4.2 The Human Spirit as Will
9.5 Deus Trinitas as the Apex of Moral Love
References
10 “Is” and “Ought” Reconciled
10.1 Epistemology, Ontology, and Ethics—The “Is”
10.1.1 The Epistemological Background
10.1.2 The Necessity of Arguing Ontologically
10.1.3 The Is-Ought-Conclusion in Acting
10.2 Regaining the Existence and the Essence
10.2.1 Regaining the Existence
10.2.2 Regaining the Essence
10.2.3 The Relevance of the Eidetic Analysis for Ethics
10.3 The Moral Conclusion: The “Ought”
10.3.1 The Duty of the Self—Autonomy
10.3.2 Lost Values, Lost Meaning
10.3.3 The Meaning as a Person
10.4 Regaining the Value
10.4.1 Stein following Thomas Aquinas and Max Scheler
10.4.2 The Existential Human Existence
10.4.3 Phenomenology as Access to Existential Truth
10.5 Relevance of Stein’s Phenomenology in Ethics
10.5.1 The Impact of the Analysis of Essence on Ethics
10.5.2 The Ethics of Thinking
References
11 The Problem of Evil in the Political Philosophy, Ethics, and Metaphysics of Edith Stein
11.1 The Genesis and Disintegration of Forms of Human Sociality
11.2 What is the Origin of Evil? Moral and Metaphysical Evil
11.3 Evil and the Dimension of Politics
References
12 Personal Identity: The Formation of Person in Edith Stein’s Thought
12.1 Phenomenology and Anthropology
12.2 The Structure of the Human Person
12.2.1 The Core
12.2.2 The Ego
12.2.3 Body, Soul and Spirit
12.3 The Formation of Human Being
12.4 Conclusion
References
Part III Applications and Implications
13 People and the State Community: Two Conflicting Forms of Sociality in Edith Stein’s Conception of A Priori Law
13.1 Stein’s Early Phenomenology: The Sociality of  a People and the State
13.2 Stein’s Münster Lectures
13.3 Justifying the Concept of Humanity
13.4 Implications of Eliminating A Priori Right and the State
References
14 Beyond Ethics: Edith Stein on Suffering, Sacrifice, and Death
14.1 Stein on Heidegger
14.2 Life and Other Writings
14.3 Conclusion: Hints for an Applied Existential Ethic
References
15 Ontology and Relational Ethics in Edith Stein’s Thought
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Edith Stein on Relational Ontology
15.3 Steinian Relational Ethics
References
16 Crucible of Empathy: Nursing Service in World War I
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Setting the Scene
16.3 Why Volunteer at All?
16.4 What Was a WWI Lazaretto?
16.5 Edith’s Postings/Assignments
16.6 Typhoid Ward Work
16.7 Surgical Ward Work
16.8 Surgical Ward One
16.9 Deepening Solidarity
16.10 Frau Gronwerweg’s Intuition
16.11 Calming Reassurance During Bombardment
16.12 Reminiscence-Filled Challenge to Offer Help
16.13 New “Sister” for the Suffering
References
17 Edith Stein’s Understanding of the Personal Attitude: Applications and Implications for a New Ethics
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Stein’s Notion of the “Personal Attitude”
17.3 Applications for New Paradigms of Empathy
17.4 Conclusion: Implications of Edith Stein’s Critique of Empathy
References
Index