Transcendence and Love for a New Global Society

Abstract

Even though the themes of transcendence and love have a long tradition in philosophical inquiry, over the last centuries the interest in these themes has gradually diminished. The reasons for this lessened interest are diverse and complex, but its results are clear: the majority of philosophers think that love and transcendence are marginal themes of little interest, that lack scientific rigor. Still, in society, the philosophical study of these themes is currently of great interest, because, as one of us (Vargas, 2015) argued recently, we are witnessing an anthropological crisis, which manifests itself as a lack of hope, not only on the social, political, and economical level, but above all intimately, in people’s interior. Recovering the philosophical study of transcendence and human love means searching for alternatives that are able to open human intimacy to existential hope.