What Is Phenomenological Thomism? Its Principles and an Application: The Anthropological Square

In the debates over various kinds and traditions of Thomism, the term “Phenomenological Thomism” does not appear often. However, once uttered, it is instantly linked to two figures: Edith Stein and Karol Wojtyła. In her attempt at contrasting and bringing together Husserl’s phenomenology and the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, the founder of the new approach, Edith Stein, pioneered a philosophy that innovatively united phenomenological and Thomistic methods. This article analyses the essential features of her method, proposing to call it “Phenomenological Thomism”. In order to demonstrate the internal logic of this approach, I apply it to one topic, that of the human being, construing the Anthropological Square. The thesis of the article holds that Phenomenological Thomism is sui generis, yet not an estranged tradition in the history of philosophy.