Josef Pieper Libri

Pieper is acclaimed as one of the most popular modern scholastic philosophers of our age and widely read by scholars and common readers everywhere. This brilliant work synthesizes the meaning of philosophy as it pertains to our modern era, and responds to the spiritual needs and searching of modern man.

The collection features Josef Pieper's renowned treatises exploring the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love. Celebrated as a leading Thomist philosopher of the twentieth century, Pieper delves into the significance and interconnections of these virtues, offering profound insights that resonate with both philosophical and spiritual dimensions. This unified edition presents a comprehensive understanding of these essential aspects of human experience, making it a valuable resource for those interested in philosophy and theology.

Foreword by Hans Urs von Balthasar Near the end of a long career as one of the most widely read popular Thomistic philosophers of the twentieth century, Josef Pieper has himself compiled an anthology from all his works. He has selected the best and most representative passages and arranged them in an order that gives sense to the whole and aids in the understanding of each excerpt. Pieper's reputation rests on his remarkable ability to restate traditional wisdom in terms of contemporary problems. He is a philosopher who writes in the language of common sense, presenting involved issues in a clear, lucid and simple manner. Among his many well-known works included in this anthology are selections from The Basis of Culture , The Four Cardinal Virtues , About Love , Belief and Faith , Happiness and Contemplation , and Scholasticism . Below is a list of the selection Human AuthenticityThe Two Sides of the Coin That Is TruthThe Freedom of Philosophy and Its AdversariesFree Space in the World of WorkTruths-Known and BelievedThe Reality of the Holy"Finis" Means Both End and Goal 

Delivers a stimulating quartet of essays on the four cardinal virtues. Josef Pieper demonstrates the unsound overvaluation of moderation that has made contemporary morality a hollow convention and points out the true significance of the Christian virtues.

In this stimulating and still-timely study, Josef Pieper takes up a theme of paramount importance to his thinking—that festivals belong by rights among the great topics of philosophical discussion. As he develops his theory of festivity, the modern age comes under close and painful scrutiny. It is obvious that we no longer know what festivity is, namely, the celebration of existence under various symbols.Pieper exposes the pseudo-festivals, in their harmless and their sinister forms: traditional feasts contaminated by commercialism; artificial holidays created in the interest of merchandisers; holidays by coercion, decreed by dictators the world over; festivals as military demonstrations; holidays empty of significance. And lastly we are given the apocalyptic vision of a nihilistic world which would seek its release not in festivities but in destruction.Formulated with Pieper's customary clarity and elegance, enhanced by brilliantly chosen quotations, this is an illuminating contribution to the understanding of traditional and contemporary experience.

"The ultimate of human happiness is to be found in contemplation". In offering this proposition of Thomas Aquinas to our thought, Josef Pieper uses traditional wisdom in order to throw light on present-day reality and present-day psychological problems. What, in fact, does one pursue in pursuing happiness? What, in the consensus of the wisdom of the early Greeks, of Plato and Aristotle, of the New Testament, of Augustine and Aquinas, is that condition of perfect bliss toward which all life and effort tend by nature? In this profound and illuminating inquiry, Pieper considers the nature of contemplation, and the meaning and goal of life.