The Heart: An Analysis of Human and Divine Affectivity

nI am personally convinced that, when, at some time in the future, the intellectual history of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century is written, the name of Dietrich von Hildebrand will be most prominent among the figures of our time. n- Joseph Cardinal RatzingerVon Hildebrand's concept of affective response, essential to his ethics and to his meaning of the heart, was the wake-up call that mainstream philosophy and social neuroscience are finally recognizing and accepting. We are all in his debt. - Andrew Tallon, Author of Head & Heart: Affection, Cognition, Volition as Triune ConsciousnessVon Hildebrand's book is a remarkably rich and illuminating exploration of that much neglected area of philosophical investigation, the affective life of the human person, symbolized by the human heart. First, the fundamental philosophical point is made that the affective life is not just a set of feelings, basically all on the same level. Rather, the affective life stretches over a wide spectrum of levels, from the lowest sensible to the highest spiritual, depending on the level of values to which it is responding. Secondly, he lays out a very insightful, perhaps unique, phenomenological description of the various kinds of affective responses, both healthy and unhealthy. n- W. Norris Clarke, s.j., Fordham UniversityThe notion of the heart has not been at the center of attention in the philosophical tradition, though it is front and center in Augustine and it plays a larger than expected role in Hegel. Dietrich von Hildebrand's book, The Heart, is a welcome recovery of this core notion. n- Robert E. Wood, University of Dallas nThis new edition of The Heart (out of print for nearly 30 years) is the flagship volume in a series of Dietrich von Hildebrand's works to be published by St. Augustine's Press in collaboration with the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project. Founded in 2004, the Legacy Project exists in the first place to translate the many German writings of von Hildebrand into English.

While many revere von Hildebrand as a religious author, few realize that he was a philosopher of great stature and importance. Those who knew von Hildebrand as philosopher held him in the highest esteem. Louis Bouyer, for example, once said that von Hildebrand was the most important Catholic philosopher in Europe between the two world wars. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger expressed even greater esteem when he said: I am personally convinced that, when, at