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Fəlsəfə və sosial-siyasi elmlər – 2013, № 1
 
 
 
 
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This paper seeks to revisit certain sections of Edith Stein’s existential 
and philosophical itinerary, from phenomenology to ‘Christian philosophy’, 
aiming for a deeper understanding of the theme of individuality and the 
reference to the community dimension of research, in the spirit of ‘perennis 
philosophia’. Fundamental in this regard are two recent publications by the 
Franciscan Father Francesco Alfieri, whose decisive contribution has been 
to shed new light on Steinian studies (providing the first international 
bibliography) and Stein’s sources of reference, which are not limited to the 
Aristotelian-Thomist approach, but are open to the thought of other 
medieval philosophers, particularly Duns Scotus. The work of Father Alfieri 
has helped to consolidate the close relationship between the Franciscan 
Order and phenomenology, particularly via Edith Stein. Indeed, it was the 
Franciscan Father Herman-Leo Van Breda who, after saving Husserl’s 
writings from being destroyed by the Nazis and placing them in an archive 
dedicated to him in Leuven, also gathered the manuscripts of Sister Teresia 
Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). These were subsequently transferred to 
the Carmelite Convent in Cologne, laying the basis for the first annotated 
edition of her works. 
 
1.  From Phenomenology to the Carmelite Convent: a life 
dedicated to the ‘Truth’ 
 
The biography of Edith Stein (1891-1942) is not particularly rich in 
terms of external events, but is profound and complex in terms of its inner 
journey: philosophical research, teaching and religious awakening converge 
and complement each other in the unity of the person
1
. The search for truth, 
                                                 
1
 Of Edith Stein’s early intellectual development we have the direct testimony of her 
family members, friends and acquaintances: the last of seven children, her father died 
before her second birthday. She was brought up by her mother in the Jewish faith and the 
observance of its traditions. She started school on her sixth birthday, in 1897, and soon 
proved to be a bright and studious child. At high school she was known for the maturity and 
depth of her knowledge. The most authoritative source for her biographical and intellectual 
development is her autobiography, written over the years and kept up to date until shortly 
before her death in the Auschwitz concentration camp, believed to have been on the 9
th
 of 
August 1942 [E. S
TEIN
,  Aus dem Leben einer jüdischen Familie und weitere 

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the common thread running through her life, oriented her towards 
philosophy, fuelled her religious awakening and was transmitted to others in 
her teaching and public conferences
1
. The dramatic events of her epoch, 
especially the two world wars and the cultural and social transformations 
associated with them, prompted her to take up clear moral and social 
positions, demonstrating her determined personality, the consistency of her 
choices and the courage of her convictions
2
. 
Born in Breslau to a Jewish family on the 12
th
 of October 1891, Edith 
Stein attended school there until going to university. In 1911 she enrolled in 
the faculty of German Letters of the University of Breslau, where she also 
studied philosophy and experimental psychology. By the end of her second 
term she was disappointed and dissatisfied with what the university had to 
offer but became interested in the research being conducted by Edmund 
                                                                                                                            
autobiographische Beiträge, neu bearbeitet und eingeleitet von M. A. Neyer, Fußnoten und 
Stammbaum unter Mitarbei von H.-B. Gerl-Falkovitz, ESGA  1, Herder, Freiburg-Basel-
Wien, 2007
2
; English translation Life in a Jewish Family 1891-1916. Her Unfinished 
Autobiographical Account (The Collected Works of Edith Stein, I), by J. Koeppel, ICS 
Publications, Washington (DC) 1986]. Extensive information can also be found in the 
biography edited by the then Prioress of the Carmelite Convent in Cologne, Sister Theresia 
Renata Posselt [Edith Stein. Das Lebensbild einer Karmeliterin und Philosophin, Glock 
und Lutz, Nürnberg 1948; English translation Edith Stein. The Life of a Philosopher and 
Carmelite (Text, Commentary and Explanatory Notes), S. M. Batzdorff – J. Koeppel – J. 
Sullivan (eds.), Preface by M. A. Neyer, ICS Publications, Washington (DC) 2005]. 
1
 As well as philosophical research, also of considerable interest are her pedagogical and 
political studies, and her reflections on the special role of women. In Stein's view, there is a 
specifically female trait which cannot be reduced to a mere anatomical or biological 
distinction and does not even depend on this: it is a way of feeling, of perceiving the world 
and living in it, an entirely female talent, which can be traced back to affective charisma. It 
is a metaphysical predisposition, an aspiration to totality explored with flexibility, 
sensitivity and intuition, an analytical interest that is not dissipated in unconnected streams, 
but tends towards the recomposition of the whole. See A. A
LES 
B
ELLO
, Lineamenti di una 
filosofia al femminile. Hedwig Conrad-Martius, Edith Stein, Gerda Walther,  Filosofia 
Donne Filosofie, M. Forcina – A. Prontera – P. I. Vergine (eds.), Milella, Lecce 1994, p. 
557. See also A. A
LES 
B
ELLO
,  Fenomenologia dell’essere umano. Lineamenti di una 
filosofia al femminile, Città Nuova, Rome 1992, pp. 12-21. 
2
 Significant examples in this regard include her experience at the front as a volunteer in 
a military hospital during the first world war and, during the rise to power of Adolf Hitler, 
her growing and prophetic awareness of the ideological development of the Nazi 
government towards the Jews. She expressed her fears with great lucidity in a letter to Pope 
Pius XI in April 1933. 

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