The question of heroism and heroic virtue belongs among the most discussed topics in history. It emerges as a recurring theme, mainly in the context of an imminent military danger provoking horror and fear which an individual must resist. This is precisely why heroism was a subject of Nazi propaganda in the past, when it was associated with an irrational willingness to sacrifice one’s own life for any value. In the context of the current war turmoil and tenebrous scenarios regarding the future of the humanity, this article poses the following question: what exactly is heroic virtue? In particular, it focuses on the image of heroism presented by Josef Pieper, who followed the line of thinking of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. He wanted to demonstrate how the courage to face injustice, in spite of imminent danger, develops into heroism when the power of hope is mobilised within individuals. This refers not only to the natural hope associated with our common expectations, but also a mystical hope that helps a hero maintain justice even when face-to-face with the predominance of evil until the end. The article concludes by proposing several motives that might be considered in the process of education to heroic virtue.

The contemporary educational system is oriented on performance and productivity. German philosopher and sociologist Josef Pieper (1904–1997) was one of the big critics of this orientation and a defender of holistic education. The aim of this study is to analyse two of Pieper’s essays dedicated to education to the good – Total Education and Reality and the Good (both 1935) – and to present his concept of the “holistic education” that is based on them. In these two essays, Pieper analyses education as a formation of the spiritual soul in its ability to know and to act: knowledge is born as a result of our openness to reality in its divine root, and action is a response to this known good. Pieper identifies the educated man as being constantly open to the totality of reality, questioning unilateral, normative, performance-oriented and “specialized” education.

The aim of this article is to interpret the virtue of religio in the thinking of Thomas Aquinas against the background of his Summa Theologiae. In Summa Theologiae, the issue is placed in the context of justice and injustice; thus, this article seeks to show the deeper reason as well as the possible connections between religio and iustitia. Justice, according to Thomas, is preferably realised where there are differences among people and some debt (debitum) occurs that needs to be settled. The inclusion of the virtue of religio under justice is justified by the existence of a relationship in which a debitum also arises, but settlement is impossible. Aristotle, who inspired Thomas, claims that true friendship rests on similarity and equality. This article wants to present how this opinion of Aristotle could be manifested in Thomas’s description of the virtue of religio. The article posits the question of whether the gift of friendship with God does not permit us to give a new interpretation of the virtue of religio. The authors conclude that, together with love, the virtue of religio is infused into man, thanks to which he can perform deeds commensurate with the goal of ultimate beatitude. For a person who loves God, the act of religio is not only a means of satisfying the demand of justice towards the Creator of all things but also a grace in which he returns his love to God.

Czech theologian and philosopher Karel Říha (1923–2016) followed the thinking of Maurice Blondel. He wanted to expand and deepen the basis of transcendental philosophy. He perceived the possibilities of a new metaphysics, which would be established only in a triadic way of thinking—knowledge, wanting, Being. He originally believed that the basic philosophical theory was the theory of moral conversion. Říha comprehended the event of moral conversion as a mystic turn, a transformation in which we find ourselves by realising ourselves in devotion to others. In this transformation, the striving for metaphysics, which is based on interpersonal relationships, achieves its goal. Metaphysics eliminates itself and is integrated into theology. Theology finally comes to the conclusion that the truth is not in our power but pursues us. The theologian and philosopher Říha, as he writes, has united himself with a Will, which we do not know where it leads us or what it will ask from us. There was nothing left on his own. Metaphysics and mysticism are united in his thinking and work.