Battista Mondin’s Philosophical Anthropology (often studied under its Italian title Antropologia Filosofica or through its various English translations and manual formulations) remains a monumental text in Christian philosophy and Thomistic thought [1, 2]. As a prominent twentieth-century Italian theologian and philosopher, Mondin (1926–2015) dedicated a significant portion of his academic career to answering the foundational question of human existence: What is the human being? [2, 3]
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Ultimately, Mondin’s philosophical anthropology is open to theology [2]. He posits that human desires—such as the thirst for infinite truth, absolute love, and eternal life—cannot be satisfied by finite material realities. Therefore, the human being is naturally structured to look outward and upward toward a relationship with God (the Homo Religiosus ).
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Mondin’s approach to anthropology is marked by a quest to define the essence of humanity by examining its contradictory nature. He argues that man is a complex unity of contradictory dimensions: body and soul, individual and social, rational and emotional, finite and infinite. 1. Man as an "Impossible Project?"
: He frames the human person as an "impossible project," suggesting that while we are finite, we possess a drive toward the infinite. An Impossible Project?
The subtitle of the 1985 edition, An Impossible Project? , reflects the tension between the finite nature of man and his infinite aspirations. Mondin suggests that because the human person is always "on the way"—constantly creating culture and seeking meaning—a final, closed "scientific" definition of humanity is impossible. Accessing the PDF and Resources