Karl Rahner and the Metaphysics of Participation

The Thomist 67 (2003): 375-408 KARL RAHNER AND THE METAPHYSICS OF PARTICIPATION FRANCIS J. CAPONI, 0.S.A Washington Theological Union Washington, D.C. SPIRITIN THE WORLD, the published form of Karl Rahner's rejected doctoral dissertation, and Hearer of the Word, a series of lectures given in 1937, are the works in which Rahner undertakes a decisive response to the Kantian critique of metaphysics, developing a philosophical anthropology of incarnate spirit centered on an interpretation of St. Thomas Aquinas by way of Pierre Rousselot, Joseph Marechal, and Martin Heidegger.1 Through an analysis of the metaphysical constituents of human knowledge, Rahner seeks a contemporary justification of "the possibility of metaphysics within the horizon of space and time."2 The thesis of this essay is that the central argument Rahner makes in accomplishing this goal-the conscious but unthematic affirmation of the Absolutely Real is a condition of the possibility of knowing the worldly, finite real3-is dependent upon St. 1 Rahner's indebtedness to Heidegger is accepted by all, but its extent is debated. Rahner called Heidegger his one true teacher, and lauded him for bringing philosophy to focus on the "unsayable mystery ... [which] we can scarcely name with words." Yet, Rahner immediately recognizes that Heidegger's abstention from speech about this mystery is not a path open to the theologian (Martin Heidegger im Gespriich, ed. R. Wisser [Munich: Verlag Karl Alber, 1970), 48-49; also Foundations ofChristian Faith, trans. W. V. Dych [New York: Seabury Press, 1978], 64). 2 Geist in Welt: Zur Metaphysik der endlichen Erkenntnis bei Thomas van Aquin, 2d ed., rev. J. B. Metz (Miinich: Kosel-Verlag, 1957), 44. English translation: Spirit in the World, trans. W. V. Dych (New York: Continuum, 1994), 30. 3 Rahner, Spirit in the World, 165. 375 376 FRANCIS J. CAPONI, O.S.A. Thomas's metaphysics of participation, which Rahner develops as an intrinsic part of his metaphysics of knowledge. From this perspective, Rahner's forceful advocacy of "the thorough-going analogy of the concept of being"" can be upheld in the face of criticism that his defense of metaphysics depends upon a univocal concept of being. In order properly to grasp Rahner's justification of metaphysics , it is necessary to consider its profoundly Thomistic provenance. Rahner's reliance upon and fidelity to Thomas's metaphysical vision, while often questioned by Rahner's critics/ and well-concealed by Rahner himself at key points, comes into dear view with the metaphysics of participation. This line of analysis requires a briefconsideration ofThomas's novel approach to the venerable idea of participation; then follows an analysis of Rahner's metaphysics of the intellect, with particular attention to his development of a Thomistic metaphysics of participation within an analysis of judgment. Finally, Rahner's metaphysics of participation is presented as the means whereby a key difficulty his analysis may be darified: the daim that the human intellect "co-affirms" Absolute Being in every act of knowledge. 4 Rahner, Spirit in the World, 163, n. 1. 5 George Vass epitomizes the view of many: "Rahner is indeed not a Thomist and he can hardly claim the authority of Aquinas for his own philosophy" (Understanding Karl Rohner, vol. 1: A Theologian in Search of a Phi!osophJ' [Westminster: Christian Classics; London: Sheed and Ward, 1985], 43; see also Langdon Gilkey's review of Geist in Welt inJournal of Ecumenical Studies 7 [1970]: 141-44). Conversely, see Gerald McCool, S.J., "Karl Rahner and the Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas," in Theology and Discovery: Essays in Honor of Karl Rohner, S.J., ed. W. J. Kelly, S.J. (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1980), 86. See also in the same volume: Patrick Bums, S.J., "A Response to Fr. McCool," 103-4; Robert Kress, "A Response to Fr. McCool," 98; see also Andrew Tallon, Personal Becoming, rev. ed. (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1982), 21, 25-27. For critical assessments of transcendental Thomism in general, see Etienne Gilson, Le realisme methodique (Paris: Tequi, 1936); and Realisme thomiste et critique de la connaissance (Paris: J. Vrin, 1947); and Robert Henle, S.J., "Transcendental Thomism: A Critical Assessment," in One Hundred Years ofThomism: Aeterni Patris andAfterwards, ed. V...