Seton Hall University’s Catholic Studies Program will host a lecture by Reverend Grzegorz Hołub, Ph.D., titled “The Person as Transcendence at Seton Hall University.” The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, in the Chancellor Suite at the University Center.
The lecture will explore contemporary philosophical debates about the human person, with a focus on Karol Wojtyła’s approach to personalism. According to the announcement, “Debates on the human person are very complex and advanced in contemporary philosophy. One of the interesting approaches to personhood is offered by Karol Wojtyła within his Thomistic and phenomenological personalism. Wojtyła assumes an experiential starting-point in investigating the person, and one of his particularly interesting lines of reasoning starts from grasping the phenomenon of transcendence of the person.”
The presentation will examine aspects of inner and structural transcendence in relation to humans, animals, and artificial intelligence systems. As stated in the event description: “There is an attempt to solve a dilemma whether higher animals and particularly artificial systems as AI, can be characterized by the prism of that inner and structural transcendence. Although the final answer is negative, the article proposes an idea of a supporting subject, which can be attributed to highly developed artificial systems. In this way, the uniqueness of the human person is guaranteed and further research into AI is open and encouraged.”
Reverend Grzegorz Hołub is a professor at the Department of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland. His research covers bioethics, philosophy of the human person, and philosophy related to Karol Wojtyła. He currently holds the chair dedicated to Karol Wojtyła at his department. His most recent English-language book is titled “Understanding the Person. Essay on the Personalism of Karol Wojtyła,” published by Peter Lang in Berlin in 2021.
