Abstract

This essay traces the first section of the development of Pareyson’s thought. The first section covers his studies on existentialism and his philosophy of the person, where an existentialist and personalist aspect merge into an idea of “original solidarity between person and truth”, and paves the way to philosophy as hermeneutics. This essay considers analytically Pareyson’s main writings on existential philosophy and on the philosophy of the person. This approach highlights a theoretical framework within which the concepts of existence, truth and person are defined. Besides, the essay dwells on his historiographical thesis of existentialism as a response to the dissolution of Hegelianism. At the same time it means to show the intrinsic hermeneutical value of these writings and their richness of theoretical suggestions. Furthermore, the paper gives special consideration to the essay on Barth, the monograph on Jaspers, the essay-cum-review on Von der Wahrheit as well as the essays Person and Society and Philosophy of the Person. It is notable that the principle of inseparability itself, between existence and transcendence, emerging from the interpretation of Jasper’s thought, reveals itself as a pillar of the theory of the person. Its essence is freedom, founded on its constitutive relationship with God.