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Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, the Romanian philosopher of energetic personalism, studied at the universities of Bucharest, Paris, Munich, and Leipzig. He obtained his doctorate from Leipzig in 1893 with a thesis on the development of Immanuel Kant's theory of causality in nature, published in Wilhelm Wundt's Philosophische Studien. In 1904 he became professor of psychology and logic at the University of Bucharest. He founded the journals Noua Revista Română (1900), Studii Filosofice (1905, after 1920 called Revista de Filosofie), Anale de Psihologie (1935), and Jurnal de Psihotehnică (1937), as well as the Romanian Society of Philosophy.
Rădulescu-Motru was the dominant figure in Romanian philosophy from 1905 to 1930. The most articulate expression of his philosophical system is to be found in his Personalismul Energetic (1927). Influenced by the work of Wilhelm Ostwald and William Stern, it was an impressive effort to unify the results of natural science, biology, and psychology. Rădulescu-Motru called his system personalistic because the human personality plays the central role within it, and energetic because he considered personality to be the highest form of cosmic energy. The universe is in continuous evolution, and its goal is the creation of energetic personality. Rădulescu-Motru distinguished six stages of the evolutionary process: cosmic energy, adaptation, organic individuality, consciousness, ego, and personality. Personality is both modified and enriched through evolution from the primitive homo divinans to homo faber. Finally, through Stoicism, Christianity, and science, the energetic personality, the vocational or professional man, emerges. With the achievement of a personality having a total comprehension of the universe, the evolutionary process will come to an end; Nature will have reached its ultimate goal.
Kant, Immanuel; Ostwald, Wilhelm; Personalism; Stern, Louis William; Wundt, Wilhelm.
Puterea Sufleteasca. Bucharest, 1907.
Elemente de Metafizică (1912). Definitive edition Bucharest, 1928.
Curs de Psihologie. Bucharest, 1924.
Personalismul Energetic. Bucharest, 1927.
Vocaţia. Bucharest, 1932.
Românismul. Bucharest, 1936.
Omagiu profesorului C. Rădulescu-Motru. Bucharest, 1932.
Rus, G. "Il personalismo energetico di C. Rădulescu-Motru." Acta Philosophica et Theologica 2 (1964): 411–438.