The law of the gift, the meaning of life and its communication

Abstract

In our age of digital communication and social media, it can be instructive to ask what communication is at its foundations. What differentiates human communication from non-human communication? What guides the human use of communication? What ethical considerations pertain to communication and how do we determine or measure its use? This article is an inquiry into the metaphysical underpinnings of communication. It begins with Aristotle who (1) established the essential features of human communication and (2) offered that its greatest application is in the service of wonder and contemplation, which for Aristotle are the human being’s highest, most “god-like” activity. Next the article looks to Thomas Aquinas who develops Aristotle’s notion of communication as essential to human flourishing, emphasizing the cultivation of virtue. This reflection on Thomas Aquinas is a springboard to a final turn toward the personalist metaphysics of John Paul II, whose philosophical notion of the Law of the Gift gives fresh and penetrating insight into the truth about human communication, its purpose and its highest application. This article does not attempt to be exhaustive in its philosophical consideration of communication; rather its aim is to trace a line from Aristotle, arguably its greatest ancient proponent, through Aquinas, arguably its greatest medieval proponent, to John Paul II, whose insights into the nature of the human person provide the ground for one of the most fascinating contemporary reflections on the purpose and value of human interaction: its key role in human flourishing.