Vittorio POSSENTI: Noi che non sappiamo affatto che cosa sia la persona umana
The article tries to respond to this questions: what makes the man be a human and a person? That is why, first of all, a short incursion in the philosophical background of today; second of all, a few frame elements about the question of man in the modern philosophy. Thus, the author passes to the analysis of the characteristics of the person, that from an ontological point of view, moves around three key concepts: dignity, truth and freedom. Together with saint Tomas d’Aquino, one affirms: that „persona significat id quod est perfectissimum in tota natura, scilicet subsistens in rationali natura” and it is especially underlined that the human person is a center of dynamic unification, is a concrete totality, that shows itself in the analysis of the relation between dignity and liberty. After a short digression upon the reductionism and of upon what is irresistible in man, the author verifies the dignity of the man in two domains, today, in crisis: the idea of humanism and the „literal” education from universities. Finally, the author pleads for a humanism that represents the tension towards the realization of the essence or of the human nature and a formation road that should be penetrated by the truth-principle.