Draft:Gustav Siewerth
German philosopher and Thomist (1903–1963)
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Gustav Siewerth (28 May 1903, Hofgeismar, Germany – 5 October 1963, Trento, Italy) was a German philosopher and educator. He is known for his original synthesis of Thomistic metaphysics with the thought of Martin Heidegger and G. W. F. Hegel, centered on a creative interpretation of the ontological difference and being as the "likeness" (Gleichnis) of God. Siewerth's work influenced theologians such as Hans Urs von Balthasar and remains a distinctive voice in 20th-century Catholic philosophy.[1]
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This draft has been resubmitted and is currently awaiting re-review. |  |
Gustav Siewerth | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 May 1903 |
| Died | 5 October 1963 (aged 60) Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Thomism Christian metaphysics |
| Main interests | |
Biography
After graduating from the Lessing-Gymnasium in Frankfurt in 1922, Siewerth studied philosophy and psychology at the University of Frankfurt. In 1924, he completed his Philosophicum at the Fulda Theological Seminary. From 1926 to 1930, he studied philosophy, art history, and history at the University of Freiburg under Martin Honecker, Martin Heidegger, and Edmund Husserl. His fellow students under Honecker included Max Müller, Eugen Seiterich, and Karl Rahner. In 1930, he earned his doctorate in Freiburg with a dissertation titled The Metaphysics of Knowledge according to Thomas Aquinas.
Following a research commission from the German Research Foundation regarding "The Concept of God in the Development of the Young Hegel," Siewerth was granted admission to seek his Habilitation at the University of Frankfurt in 1932. However, in 1933, both his Habilitation and a professorship at the Lyceum Hosianum in Braunsberg were blocked due to the political climate.
Siewerth completed his Habilitation in 1937 at the University of Freiburg with the thesis The Apriority of Knowledge as the Unifying Basis of Philosophical Systematics according to Thomas Aquinas. According to his student Jan Bentz, the work was accepted despite opposition from Heidegger, who reportedly believed the thesis belonged more to theology than to philosophy.[2] Nevertheless, Siewerth was denied a teaching post and barred from editorial positions. During the Third Reich, he spent his "inner emigration" working in industry for the Drahtverband and the Mannesmann Tube Works in Düsseldorf.
In 1945 Siewerth was appointed Professor of Philosophy and Pedagogy and Director at the Rhineland College of Education (Aachen Division). In 1961, he became the founding Rector and Professor of Pedagogy at the Freiburg University of Education. Siewerth died on October 5, 1963, during a conference of the Görres Society in Trento; he is interred at the Bergäcker Cemetery in Freiburg-Littenweiler.
Philosophical work
The ontological difference
Siewerth attempts to locate the origin of the ontological difference within medieval philosophy of being, especially Thomas Aquinas. Unlike Heidegger's focus on the "forgetfulness of being" (Seinsvergessenheit) in Western metaphysics, Siewerth argues that Aquinas already grasped the difference, albeit in a form obscured by later Scotist and Suárezian scholasticism.[3]
For Siewerth, difference always originates in unity. Unity is more primordial than difference; difference is the "twofoldedness or more-foldedness of the one, the non-identity of identity and the otherness of selfness." Applied to being, this means that Being (as primary act) and essence (as the "other" of being) are distinct but originate from a single source. Siewerth locates this source in the ens commune – non-subsistent actuality – which mirrors subsistent being itself (esse in se subsistens).[4]
Non-subsistent being and the critique of rationalism
A central and distinctive doctrine in Siewerth is his account of "non-subsistent being." As he develops in Die Abstraktion und das Sein nach der Lehre des Thomas von Aquin (Abstraction and Being in the Doctrine of Thomas AquiFor Siewerth, the difference between act and subsistence is more fundamental than the real distinction between being and essence. Pure act as such is not yet the image of God; being only becomes a true image when it reaches subsistence through essence. This occurs paradigmatically in the rational spirit (man), where being "returns to itself" in knowledge and love, achieving personal subsistence.For Siewerth, the difference between act and subsistence is more fundamental than the real distinction between being and essence. Pure act as such is not yet the image of God; being only becomes a true image when it reaches subsistence through essence. This occurs paradigmatically in the rational spirit (man), where being "returns to itself" in knowledge and love, achieving personal subsistence.For Siewerth, the difference between act and subsistence is more fundamental than the real distinction between being and essence. Pure act as such is not yet the image of God; being only becomes a true image when it reaches subsistence through essence. This occurs paradigmatically in the rational spirit (man), where being "returns to itself" in knowledge and love, achieving personal subsistence.For Siewerth, the difference between act and subsistence is more fundamental than the real distinction between being and essence. Pure act as such is not yet the image of God; being only becomes a true image when it reaches subsistence through essence. This occurs paradigmatically in the rational spirit (man), where being "returns to itself" in knowledge and love, achieving personal subsistence.nas), Siewerth argues that rationalism and nominalist scholasticism reduced being to a univocal, formal concept – an "abstraction of abstraction." Against this, he insists that being as act (actus essendi) is simple, unlimited, and perfect, yet it does not subsist in itself. Non-subsistence is not a defect but the very condition for being to be the first effect of God and the genuine likeness (Gleichnis) of the divine ground.[5]
"If being were a subsistent reality, it would be a being of beings; if it were merely logical, it would be a merely conceptual common being (ens rationis). Being itself (esse) is something simple and perfect, but it does not subsist; it is a mere outflow from God, an emanation."[6] Being as likeness (Gleichnis) and the act‑subsistence distinction
For Siewerth, the distinction between act and subsistence is even more foundational than the classic 'real distinction' between being and essence. Pure act, in its raw state, is not yet a perfect image of God; it only achieves this status when it attains subsistence through essence. This reaches its peak in the rational spirit (man), where being 'returns to itself' through knowledge and love. In this moment, the act of being achieves a personal, subsistent form.
Thus, Siewerth reinterprets the Thomistic imago Dei not merely theologically but ontologically. Man is the image of God precisely because in human reason, being as act comes to subsistence, reflecting the Trinitarian structure of difference-in-unity. "If being were not differentiated and remained pure act and being-in-itself, it would not mirror the Christian God but rather a counter-image (Widerbild) – the all‑transcendent One of Plotinus or the inaccessible Allah of the Muslims."[7]
Forgetfulness of being and the existential trap
Following Heidegger, Siewerth diagnoses a "forgetfulness of being" in modern philosophy, but he traces it to a specific intellectual sin: the rational spirit's tendency to remain fixated on essences as mere limitations of being, rather than resolving them back into being itself. This "reversal of the order of being" is, for Siewerth, the root of evil and the ultimate source of the forgetfulness of being. Only divine redemption – "the overcoming of death and sin by the sacrifice of the slaughtered lamb" – can transform this existential trap into true existence.[8] Reception and legacy
Siewerth's thought has been described as "transcendental theism" – an attempt to think being as mediation and image of the divine ground while preserving the absolute transcendence of God.[9] His work influenced Hans Urs von Balthasar, who called him "one of the most universal thinkers of our time."[10]
Critical voices have noted that Siewerth's distinction between created and uncreated being risks blurring the line between God and creature, especially when he speaks of being as an "emanation" or "flow" from God. Defenders reply that his doctrine of non-subsistence safeguards divine transcendence, because created being never subsists on its own but only in and through essence.[11]
The Gustav Siewerth Society (Gustav-Siewerth-Gesellschaft) continues to publish his collected works and promote research on his philosophy.
Selected bibliography
A complete bibliography is available at .
- Die Metaphysik der Erkenntnis nach Thomas von Aquin. Vol. 1: Die sinnliche Erkenntnis. Oldenbourg, Munich 1933 (= Doctoral thesis, University of Freiburg) (later: Reihe Libelli, Vol. 173, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1968).
- Der Thomismus als Identitätssystem. Schulte-Bulmke, Frankfurt am Main 1939 (2nd ed. 1961).
- Die Apriorität der menschlichen Erkenntnis nach Thomas von Aquin. In: Symposion, Vol. 1 (1949), pp. 95–167 (= Habilitation thesis, University of Freiburg).
- Wagnis und Bewahrung. Zur metaphysischen Begründung des erzieherischen Auftrages. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1958 (2nd ed. 1964).
- Das Schicksal der Metaphysik von Thomas zu Heidegger (= Sammlung Horizonte, Vol. 6). Johannes Verlag, Einsiedeln 1959 (New edition: Johannes, Freiburg im Breisgau 2003, ISBN 3-89411-382-0).
- Philosophie der Sprache (= Sammlung Horizonte, Vol. 9). Johannes Verlag, Einsiedeln 1962.
- Metaphysik der Kindheit (= Sammlung Horizonte, Vol. 3). 2nd ed. Johannes Verlag, Einsiedeln 1962.
- Grundfragen der Philosophie im Horizont der Seinsdifferenz. Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Philosophie. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1963.
- Hinführung zur exemplarischen Lehre. Aufsätze und Beispiele. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1965.
- Gesammelte Werke (Vol. 1 – Vol. 6 c). Patmos-Verlag, Düsseldorf/Verlag Gustav Siewerth-Gesellschaft, Konstanz 1971–2018.
See also
Further reading
- Bentz, Jan C. The Ontological Difference in Gustav Siewerth." Conference paper, APRA Congress "La Differenza onto-theologica, 2019.
- Bentz, Jan C. Thinking as Engaging 'Divine Ideality': Gustav Siewerth's Critique of John Duns Scotus' Philosophy, 2024
- Martínez Porcell, Joan. Gustav Siewerth, Philosopher of Transcendence, 1997
- Wierciński, Andrzej. Philosophizing with Gustav Siewerth: A New German Edition with Facing Translation of "Das Sein als Gleichnis Gottes" / "Being as Likeness of God". Konstanz: Verlag Gustav Siewerth Gesellschaft, 2005.
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