Human destiny

by Joseph Owens

"What may I hope for?" Immanuel Kant's third question, both speculative and practical, speaks to the heart of the problem of human destiny. Such a question can hardly help but call for careful scrutiny by Catholic philosophers. It confronts Catholic philosophy as inevitably and as poignantly as it does any other comprehensive humanistic thinking. It is especially urgent at present as humanity seems to be destining itself to a suicidal end in a w orldwide nuclear holocaust. The author takes the notion of human destiny taught as a revealed truth by the Catholic Church and considers it thematically as an object of the philosophy of religion. He examines the philosophical problems that arise, first in Aristotle, then in Aquinas, and finally in the contemporary world.