Page 47 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

Church Traditions for a Christian Psychology

tity, is a distinctly human capacity (Thompson, as a rule either a positive or a negative colou-
2010, p. 74). The human brain is also inherently ring, contain, so to speak, either a positive or a
relational; we are created for relationship. negative charge. A positive charge is pleasure,
For example, relational neurobiology has lo- and a negative charge is pain [emphasis added].
calized specific capacities for facial recogniti- (p. 32)
on (Hasson, Nir, Levy, Fuhrmann, & Malach, Wojtyła (1969/1979) recognized a particular
2004), imitation and understanding of the ac- depth and richness in human emotion, distin-
tions of others (“mirror neurons”; Rizzolatti & guishing three levels of emotional experience:
Craighero, 2004), and language (in Wernicke’s sensual “excitability,” “emotional stirring,”
area in the temporal lobe and Broca’s area in the and deep “passions of the soul” (pp. 237-239),
frontal lobe). further described as follows: Pleasure appears
Human cognition is personal, disclosing the in different guises or shades—depending on the
person. In what may represent the most pe- emotional-affective experiences with which it
netrating solution yet proposed for the mind- is connected. It may be either sensual satisfac-
body problem, Wojtyła (1969/1979) rejects tion, or emotional contentment, or a profound,
materialism and idealism, blending Thomistic a total joy. Pain also depends on the character
metaphysics and a realist phenomenology. He of the emotional-affective experiences which
appears to describe three aspects or levels of have caused it and appears in many forms, va-
human consciousness: cognition or “cognitive rieties and nuances: as sensual disgust, or emo-
acts” (involving phenomenological intentio- tional discontent, or a deep sadness. (Wojtyła,
nality, p. 32), “reflecting consciousness” (“mir- 1960/1981, p. 32).
roring and illuminating functions,” including
“self-knowledge” or “self-understanding,” pp. Volitional and Moral
32-34, 41, 49), and “reflexive…consciousness” Catholic psychology is a volitional psychology
(involving “self-consciousness” or “self-expe- and a moral psychology. Will and conscience
rience,” pp. 43-50; see Wojtyła, 1969/1979, pp. are core constitutive components of the struc-
28-50; Schmitz, 1993, pp. 63-77). “We then dis- ture of the human person.
cern clearly that it is one thing to be the subject, Catholic psychology is a volitional psychology,
another to be cognized (that is, objectivized) as a psychology of will. “By virtue of his soul and
the subject, and a still different thing to experi- his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man
ence one’s self as the subject of one’s own acts is endowed with freedom, an ‘outstanding ma-
and experiences” (Wojtyła, 1969/1979, p. 44). nifestation of the divine image’” (Catechism of
Elegantly sidestepping both materialist epiphe- the Catholic Church, n. 1705, citing Gaudium
nomenalism and idealist subjectivism, the lived et spes, n. 17). The will is free and personal. It is
experience of person in action brought about by informed by cognition or reason. The human
reflexive consciousness serves to unify human will, as a property of the person, is the basis of
interiority and exteriority, subject and object, “self-determination,” which includes self- pos-
mind and matter, soul and body (Schmitz, 1993, session and self-governance (akin to Aqui-
pp. 74-75). nas’ rational appetite of will or volition): “The
Human emotion is personal, an expression of freedom appropriate to the human being, the
the person. Consistent with Aquinas’ under- person’s freedom resulting from the will, exhi-
standing of the appetites as the soul’s relation- bits itself as identical with self-determination,
ship to corporeal objects as desirable or repug- with that experiential, most complete, and fun-
nant, attractive or repulsive (Brennan, 1941, p. damental organ of man’s autonomous being”
246; Wojtyła, 1969/1979, pp. 234-236, 251-252), (Wojtyła, 1969/1979, p. 115; cf. pp. 30-31, 116,
Wojtyła (1960/1981) also appeared conversant 135). The “fundamental structure” of “being a
with psychological theories recognizing two person” [emphasis added] involves self-deter-
basic emotions of pleasure and pain: The emo- mination, “the person’s intrinsic structure of
tional-affective overtones or states which are so self-governance and self-possession” (Wojtyła,
important a part of man’s entire inner life have 1969/1979, pp. 193-194). Human freedom is an

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