The Catholic Tradition at the beginnings of Hungarian Psychology: Harkai, Dienes, Schütz (original) (raw)

Philosophy and Psychology in the Service of the Catholic Faith: Paweł Siwek, SJ and His Legacy

Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 2020

Fr. Paweł Siwek, SJ may be considered the only Polish Jesuit philosopher of the 20 th century to have achieved worldwide recognition. This article surveys his work from a broad perspective reflecting philosophy, psychology and theology as pursued in Catholic circles in the 19 th and 20 th centuries. We review his achievements, while also offering an interpretation. We put forward the thesis that he found his own way of practising neo-Thomism in the spirit of Pope Leo XIII's Aeterni Patris. To substantiate our claims, we first briefly sketch his biography, providing a synthetic overview of the relevant contexts for his philosophical oeuvre. We then identify his four main areas of interest: namely, the history of philosophy (combined with his translation activities), systematic philosophy (especially his work on the soul-body problem and Baruch Spinoza), the scientific psychology of religion and spirituality, and Christian apologetics in the face of world religions and spiritual movements. In our conclusion, we discuss the main traits of his intellectual work, along with its impact.

Appropriation of Experimental Psychology by Two Jesuit Authors in the First Decades of the Twentieth Century

Temas em Psicologia

This historical study analyzes the mode of appropriation of experimental psychology by two authors of the Society of Jesus-J. Fröbes and J. Lindworsky-in the fi rst decades of the twentieth century. The two researchers wrote several works about psychological science, its objects and methods. Some of these texts are textbooks, aimed at the diffusion of the area, including in the context of the Society. Through an analysis of these texts, a clear opening for new methods of knowledge provided by experimental science can be seen, as well as effort to preserve and emphasize the importance of concepts from traditional philosophical psychology. Thus, the two Jesuit authors sought to verify the relevance of aspects of traditional doctrines through new experimental methods and to highlight the relevance to experimental psychology, psychic processes especially signifi cant from the point of view of the Jesuit anthropology. They therefore sought to reconcile ancient and modern aspects, as a mode of appropriation present in the intellectual universe of the Society of Jesus since its founding.

Will Training between Religion and Psychology in the Early 20th Century

Edward Boyd Barrett (1883Barrett ( -1966 was a psychologist who wrote a practical willpsychology, Strength of Will, in two versions: the first in 1915 as a Jesuit teaching at Clongowes Wood College in Ireland, and the second in 1931, having broken with the Jesuits and conducting psychoanalysis in New York City. In both versions, scientific psychology and Catholic teachings contributed to the theory and practices of willtraining. Boyd Barrett's treatment of will-training is situated in the context of its time, one in which the will was of great importance for character formation, education, medicine, and psychology. The roots of will-training are found in Catholic ascetical practices as well as in scientific psychology. Robert Kugelmann, International Psychology, Practice and Research, 5, 2014 2 de su tiempo, uno en que la voluntad tenía una importancia significativa para la formación de carácter, la educación, la medicina, y la psicología. Las raíces del entrenamiento de la voluntad se encuentran tanto en las prácticas ascéticas católicas como en la psicología científica.

A disease of our time": The Catholic Church's condemnation and absolution of psychoanalysis (1924-1975)

Journal of the history of the behavioral sciences, 2018

The present paper is focused on the evolution of the position of the Catholic Church toward psychoanalysis. Even before Freud's The Future of an Illusion (1927), psychoanalysis was criticized by Catholic theologians. Psychoanalysis was viewed with either contempt or with indifference, but nonpsychoanalytic psychotherapy was accepted, especially for pastoral use. Freudian theory remained for most Catholics a delicate and dangerous subject for a long time. From the center to the periphery of the Vatican, Catholic positions against psychoanalysis have varied in the way that theological stances have varied. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, some Catholics changed their attitudes and even practiced psychoanalysis, challenging the interdict of the Holy Office, which prohibited psychoanalytic practice until 1961. During the Cold War, psychoanalysis progressively became more and more relevant within Catholic culture for two main reasons: changes in psychoanalytic doctrine ...