Peter Jonkers
Peter Jonkers (Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 1954) was, until his retirement in 2020, professor of philosophy at Tilburg University (School of Catholic Theology), the Netherlands. His teaching and research expertise includes philosophy of religion, metaphysics, history of modern philosophy (especially Hegel and his contemporaries), and contemporary continental philosophy. Currently, his research is focused on questions regarding religious truth, tolerance, religious diversity, and a philosophical exploration of (Christian) wisdom. He is member of the Steering Committee of FISP, the International Federation of Societies of Philosophy, and coordinator of the activities of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy in Europe. Furthermore, he has been member or chair of several international panels for the accreditation of study-programs in theology and for research-assessment in the humanities.
Phone: Int-32-473-848467
Phone: Int-32-473-848467
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In spite of its laudable ambitions, this Declaration and the principle of reciprocity on which it is founded, has met with fundamental criticism. The effort to formulate a unified global ethic loses the richness and concreteness of the various religious and secular traditions out of sight, in other words replaces a substantial virtue ethics with a moral ‘least common denominator’, in which no religious or secular tradition recognizes itself. A global ethics also ignores the problem how to make the transition from universal principles to concrete moral actions in specific cultural contexts. Against the background of these critiques, I argue, on the basis of the insights of French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, that an ethics of reciprocity needs to be complemented by an economy of gift, and that particular ethical traditions are needed to prevent that the principle of reciprocity remains dead letter. Finally, I introduce the concept of practical wisdom as a way to overcome the problems of practical wisdom.
In the second section, the specific turn of modern philosophy and its fateful consequences for practical wisdom will be discussed, resulting in the insight that the claim of modern philosophy to offer humankind true wisdom has failed. The reason for this lies in the fact that modern philosophy tended to define wisdom exclusively in terms of scientific knowledge, thus depriving practical wisdom of its inevitable fragile character. Kant’s diverging approaches of wisdom, namely as scientifically objective versus morally subjective, serves as an illustration of the problematic nature of modern philosophy’s relation to practical wisdom.
The third section discusses, from a systematic perspective, how philosophy can reconnect with practical wisdom. Following Ricoeur, practical wisdom consists in the capacity for discerning the right rule in difficult situations requiring action. The exercise of this virtue is inseparable from the personal quality of the wise human being. The need for practical wisdom arises when the universalism of moral principles is confronted with the recognition of the positive values belonging to the (particular) historical and communitarian (religious and secular) contexts of the realization of these rules. Therefore, practical wisdom is fragile, always open to reconsideration, so that it can never propose, let alone impose one single response to people’s quest for a truthful life orientation.
The final section analyzes how this idea of practical wisdom is realized in a specific element of the Christian tradition of faith, namely Catholic social teaching. In order to actualize the fundamental (Christian) value of justice in the lives of people here and now, this teaching does not opt for a uniform top down model, but rather for a dialogue with those who take her moral guidelines to heart, and look for ways to put them into practice in various societal contexts.