Magda Arnold's Understanding of the Human Person: Thomistic Personalism, Psychophysical Unity of the Person, Integration of Personality, and Transcendence

Magda Arnold (1903-2002) is well known for her research on emotions, motivation, and memory from a neurological, physiological, and psychological point of view. However, her works in the field of the anthropological foundations of personality are less known and discussed. The present study presents some aspects of Arnold's conception of a human's nature as being based or convergent on Aquinas's doctrine: (a) a nonreductionist conception of the human being, (b) the psychophysical unity of the person, (c) the self-ideal as it ought to be as the main factor of personality integration, and (d) God as the origin and ultimate goal of human existence.