Christianity and Democracy, and The Rights of Man and Natural Law
(Few political philosophers have laid such stress upon the...)
Few political philosophers have laid such stress upon the organic and dynamic characters of human rights, rooted as they are in natural law, as did the great 20th century philosopher, Jacques Maritain. Few Christian scholars have placed such emphasis upon the influence of evangelical inspiration, or of the Gospel message, upon the temporal order as has Maritain.
As this important work reveals, the philosophy of Jacques Maritain on natural law and human rights is complemented by and can only be properly understood in the light of his teaching on Christianity and democracy and their relationship. Maritain shows that Christianity cannot be made subservient to any political form or regime, that democracy is linked to Christianity, and that in order for democracy to thrive, it must reflect certain values historically derived from the Gospel.
At the same time he argues his distinctive thesis that personalist or organic democracy provides a fuller measure of freedom and fulfillment and that it emerges or begins to take shape under the inspiration of the Gospel. Even the modern democracies we do in fact have, with all their weaknesses, represent an historic gain for the person and they spring, he urges, from the very Gospel they so wantonly repudiate!
(Art and Scholasticism is Jacques Maritain’s classic argum...)
Art and Scholasticism is Jacques Maritain’s classic argument for an objective view of both art and the artist. Maritain provides a strong dissenting perspective on the lazy, self-flattering artistic assumptions of the past two centuries. For this new edition, Brian Barbour’s Introduction gives a fascinating summary of Maritain’s philosophical background, his conversion to Catholicism and work in Thomistic thought, and the importance of Art and Scholasticism in understanding aesthetics—be it in poetry, painting, music, or literature. Art and Scholasticism is a must-read for lovers of art and wisdom alike.
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An Introduction to Philosophy (A Sheed & Ward Classic)
(Jacques Maritain's An Introduction to Philosophy was firs...)
Jacques Maritain's An Introduction to Philosophy was first published in 1931. Since then, this book has stood the test of time as a clear guide to what philosophy is and how to philosophize. Inspired by the Thomistic Revival called for by Leo XIII, Maritain relies heavily on Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas to shape a philosophy that, far from sectarian theology in disguise, is driven by reason and engages the modern world. Re-released as part of the Sheed & Ward Classic series, An Introduction to Philosophy is sure to enliven the minds of students and general readers for years to come.
From the new introduction by Ralph McInerny:
You are about to read a magnificent introduction not only to a kind of philosophy but to philosophizing itself. Jacques Maritain was a relatively young man when he wrote this book, but his effort is one that attracts any philosopher more and more as he grows older. However odd and unusual what he says becomes, the philosopher yearns to show how even the most abstruse claims can be put into relation with what the reader already knows. That, in its essence, is what teaching is. In this book, the reader will find a wise and certain guide into philosophizing as such. And, in the end, he will find that what he reads is really only a refinement and development of what he and everybody else already knew.
The Degrees of Knowledge (The Collected Works of Jacques Maritain, Vol. 7)
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Distinguer pour unir, ou Les degrés du savoir was first...)
Distinguer pour unir, ou Les degrés du savoir was first published in 1932 by Jacques Maritain. In this new translation of The Degrees of Knowledge, Ralph McInerny attempts a more careful expression of Maritain's original masterpiece than previous translations. Maritain proposes a hierarchy of the forms of knowledge by discussing the degrees of rational and suprarational understanding. Nine appendices, some longer than the chapters of the book, advance Maritain's thought, often by taking on criticism of earlier editions of the work. Rightly called Maritain's cardinal work, The Degrees of Knowledge is a magnificent and sagacious achievement.
Jacques Maritain's masterpiece proposes a hierarchy of forms of knowledge that culminate in mystical experience and wisdom, which is a gift of the Holy Ghost. Maritain argues that the intellectual life is meant to be complemented by the spiritual life and should culminate in sanctity.
Jacques Maritain was the French Roman Catholic philosopher.
Background
Jacques Maritain was born in Paris, France on November 18, 1882. Under the auspices of his mother, Mauritain's religious training was Protestant and his education rationalistic and humanitarian; his Catholic father played little part in these aspects of his upbringing.
Education
Maritain attended the Lycée Henri IV and the Sorbonne, where he devoted himself to studying modern thought in philosophy, literature, biology, and social questions.
After completing his work at the Sorbonne, Maritain studied biology for 2 years at the University of Heidelberg (1907 - 1908) under the distinguished biologist Hans Driesch. Upon his return to France he studied the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, fulfilling an interest which had begun while he was in Heidelberg.
For his Introduction to Philosophy (1921) he was awarded the title doctor ad honorem by the Congregation of Studies in Rome.
Career
Shortly after the marriage the Maritains came under the influence of Léon Bloy, a tempestuous intellectual and ardent Roman Catholic. Disillusioned in their intense quest for knowledge by the alternatives offered by modern thought, they were converted to Catholicism and baptized in 1906. Their conversion became the vanguard of a return to Catholicism among some leading French intellectuals.
Maritain found the fullest satisfaction of both the intellect and the soul in the thought of St. Thomas, with its harmonizing of revelation and reason and its holistic and realistic description of reality. At this time Maritain decided to dedicate his career to the communication of Thomistic ideas and their application to modern problems. While he was studying, he supported himself by editing a lexicon for a French publisher.
From 1912 to 1914 Maritain taught philosophy at the Collège Stanislas. In 1914 he was appointed to the chair of the history of modern philosophy at the Institut Catholique, continuing also his teaching at the Collège.
After 1921 Maritain was enormously productive as a teacher, lecturer, writer, reviewer, editor, and organizer of Thomistic study, as well as a political philosopher and champion of social justice. During World War II Maritain lived in the United States, his "second home, " where he taught at Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. From 1945 to 1948 Maritain was French ambassador to the Vatican. He spent the remainder of his active career teaching at Princeton.
After his retirement in 1953 he returned to Paris to live. He received many honors both from universities and from the Church. Of Maritain's many books perhaps the best-known and most significant are Art and Scholasticism (1920), the first of several works on art which constitute one of his major contributions; The Angelic Doctor (1929), a study of the life and thought of St. Thomas; The Degrees of Knowledge (1932), probably his single most important writing and the fullest statement of his philosophical position; Scholasticism and Politics (1940); Existence and the Existent (1947); The Person and the Common Good (1947); Man and the State (1951); and Moral Philosophy (1960). The Peasant of the Garonne (1968) is a sharply critical look at a number of trends in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.
Maritain's work continued to be published by academic and scholarly presses even two decades after his death. Recent works include Integral Humanism, Freedom in the Modern World, and a Letter on Independence(1996) and The Degrees of Knowledge (1995).
(Jacques Maritain's An Introduction to Philosophy was firs...)
Politics
Maritain advocated what he called "Integral Humanism. " Accordingly, in Integral Humanism he explores the prospects for a new Christendom, rooted in his philosophical pluralism, in order to find ways Christianity could inform political discourse and policy in a pluralistic age. In this account he develops a theory of cooperation, to show how people of different intellectual positions can nevertheless cooperate to achieve common practical aims. Maritain's political theory was extremely influential, and was a primary source behind the Christian Democratic movement.
Views
Maritain's philosophy is based on the view that metaphysics is prior to epistemology. Being is first apprehended implicitly in sense experience. Maritain advocates an epistemology he calls "Critical Realism". Maritain's epistemology is not "critical" in Kant's sense, which held that one could only know anything after undertaking a thorough critique of one's cognitive abilities. Rather, it is critical in the sense that it is not a naive or non-philosophical realism, but one that is defended by way of reason. Against Kant's critical project Maritain argues that epistemology is reflexive; you can only defend a theory of knowledge in light of knowledge you have already attained. Consequently, the critical question is not the question of modern philosophy – how do we pass from what is perceived to what is.
Maritain was a strong defender of a natural law ethics. He viewed ethical norms as being rooted in human nature. For Maritain the natural law is known primarily, not through philosophical argument and demonstration, but rather through "Connaturality".
Quotations:
"The artist pours out his creative spirit into a work; the philosopher measures his knowing spirit by the real. "
"We do not need a truth to serve us, we need a truth that we can serve"
Connections
At the Sorbonne he met Raïssa Oumansoff, a Jewish Russian émigré, whom he married in 1904. A highly creative person who later established a career and a reputation in her own right, working closely with her husband on several of his books and publishing a number of her own, she attended with Maritain the lectures of the famous philosopher Henri Bergson while both were university students, and for a time they were influenced by his thought.