Prekvapujúca prítomnosť chýbajúcej definície v Gaudete et exsultate
The Surprising Presence of a Missing Definition in Gaudete et exsultate

Summary/Abstract: The last papal document on holiness is the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis Gaudete et exsultate (GeE) from 2018. Surprisingly, the Pope’s explicit statement in the introduction is that the document does not intend to define holiness. The reasons are in all probability related to the pastoral and encouraging character of the document. Despite the recommendations of the Pope, the author of this paper presents the hypothesis that the document nevertheless contains a certain defining strategy. It is not, however, a classic form of definition (essential or nominal) that contains the necessary and sufficient conditions. This interesting strategy is philosophically described by another approach, the theory of family resemblances of Ludwig Wittgenstein (from his Philosophical Investigations). Interestingly, the application of the non essential approach to the definition of holiness turns out to have potential. The author of this paper does not claim that Pope Francis intentionally uses Wittgenstein or the theory of family resemblances, but rather that reading GeE with this methodology is comprehensible and provides meaningful results.

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