Abstract:

Does doing good (or evil) lead to increases (or decreases) in personal fulfillment, if we understand "personal fulfillment" to include such realities as happiness, meaning in life, and freedom? This dissertation explores this question by analyzing the work of two prominent thinkers of the twentieth century: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Karol Wojtyla/Pope John Paul II.

After an introduction that provides an overview of the question, authors, and sources to be discussed, the first chapter of this study supplies working definitions of the key terms and phrases in that question. The second chapter analyzes relevant philosophical, theological, and psychological considerations raised by Heschel; the third chapter does the same for Wojtyla/John Paul II. The fourth (and final) chapter begins by revealing several noteworthy similarities and distinctions between the respective positions of these two thinkers. The final chapter then analyzes the wider context of those views by (1) showing Heschel and Wojtyla/John Paul II's debts to a few major predecessors (Aristotle, Maimonides, Aquinas, and Kant) and (2) examining some implicit critiques put forth by notable contemporary authors.

This dissertation contends that both Heschel and Wojtyla/John Paul II suggest that doing good generally leads to increases in happiness, meaning, freedom from selfish desires, and personal fulfillment in general, while doing evil generally leads to decreases in each of these realities. In fact, it is plausible to think that both authors would say that doing good always leads to certain advancements in personal fulfillment, while doing evil always leads to certain declines. At the same time, the two thinkers' views are distinguishable; for example, Wojtyla/John Paul II more strongly emphasizes the relationship between doing good and attaining eternal life, while Heschel wrestles more openly with the possibility that proper religious commitment ultimately involves anxiety and sadness. In the end, while the pertinent conclusions of these authors are supported to an extent by recent findings in the field of positive psychology, whether or not one finds either of these thinkers ultimately persuasive will depend in large part on one's prior conclusions about the existence and nature of God.