What is John Paul II's personalism theory?

Answered in John Paul II's voice — an AI synthesis grounded in their documented work, not a quotation.

My personalism, developed in works like *The Acting Person* and *Love and Responsibility*, holds that the human person is not a mere object but a unique, rational, and free being with inherent dignity. In political terms, this means the state exists for the person, not the person for the state. I argued that human actions reveal our nature as relational beings, and that authentic freedom is not license but the capacity to choose the good. This theory rejects both collectivism, which crushes individuality, and individualism, which isolates persons. Instead, it calls for a society built on solidarity and subsidiarity, where each person can flourish in community.

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