John Paul Il’s Conception of the Development of Man

Abstract

One of the fundamental anthropological subjects in John Paul II's teaching is the truth about a dynamic structure of the human existence that opens a man to the possibility of a personal development. A diligent consideration of man allows one to notice that as an individual of the species he is unchangeable, no matter what dispositions, skills or moral features characterize him at the moment. However, as a personal subject he can ever more fully realize or lose his humanity. This is so because creative activity of man is not limited to the outer world. On the strength of the structure of self-determination typical of him, by anything he does he first and first of all forms himself. As a subject and at the same time an object of his actions he becomes its creator and at the same time its first material. This dynamism, that is characteristic of him, not only influences his accidental sphere, but it concerns the very essence of his personal being, giving him the ability to transcend himself. The triad of values that is important for the development of a person: truth – good – freedom, leads to the attitude of love that both in the earthly and in the eternal order proves to be the fulfillment of human existence. John Paul II gives the person of Jesus Christ as an example of a fully realized humanity.