Introduction

John F. Crosby

The previous volumes of Aletheia have centered around some branch of philosophy; the present volume differs in that it centers around an individual thinker. Of course vol. III, though it was dedicated to Philosophy of Law, was limited to the legal philosophy of Adolf Reinach; and yet the present volume goes much farther than III in being organized around the thought of a single philosopher.

In 1989 we had the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dietrich von Hildebrand. The International Academy of Philosophy saw in this a uniquely important centennary. For some of the professors of the Academy, including its founder and present rector, look to von Hildebrand as to their master in philosophy. From him they have learned philosophical realism, from him they have learned the genius of phenomenology, from him they have learned how to take seriously in their philosophizing the human person and the world of the person. They are also convinced that von Hildebrand is not just one of many, important to them simply because he was their teacher, but that he has broken new ground in epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of the person, and that his contributions yield much fruit when they are developed. They are aware that the larger philosophical world has not yet taken cognizance of these contributions: as a result they feel a particular calling to hand them on, to call attention to them, to begin this work of development, and in other ways to hasten von Hildebrand's hour. I think it is true to say that no one has done more than the present rector of the Academy, Josef Seifert, to explain, defend, develop, and also to test critically and to correct, the philosophical legacy of von Hildebrand. Now that the Academy is in possession of a complete copy of the literary remains of von Hildebrand, it has established itself as the main center of von Hildebrand studies in the world, and thereby also as one of the main centers of the realist phenomenology, as well as of the particular kind of Christian philosophy, represented by von Hildebrand.

It was, therefore, impossible that the International Academy of Philosophy should let the centennary of von Hildebrand's birth pass without commemoration. From November 30 to December 2, 1989 we held at the Academy in Liechtenstein an international symposium on his philosophical legacy. In the present volume of Aletheia we present some of the papers from that symposium.

And it is only fitting to dedicate this volume to the memory of Dietrich von Hildebrand. Without this great philosopher, who was also a great human being and a great man of faith, there would have been no International Academy of Philosophy.