Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)

Summary: Explores what is distinctive about Christian philosophy with notes on apologetics and moral philosophy.

Can there be any such thing as a “Christian” philosophy, and if so, in what does it consist? In 1931 Jacques Maritain, a Catholic philosopher delivered a paper at a conference at the University of Louvain. He addresses these questions in the context of a dialogue between Etienne Gilson, Emile Brehier, and Maurice Blondel. This occupies the first part of the essay, in which the show more question of whether philosophy and faith have anything to do with one another.

Maritain argues that Christian belief can enrich philosophy in offering new ideas for rational consideration including that of creation, of God subsisting in God’s self, and unique perspectives on the question of the person raised by the Triune revelation of God. Maritain argues that such insights are not removed from reason but may enrich it. He proposes that reasoning from nature provides knowledge of the existence of God but this is enriched by revealed insights.

At the same time, he contends that philosophy is always ancillary, or a handmaid, to theology. Moreover, he contends that moral philosophy in a fallen world is subalternate to theological ethics. In all this he draws heavily on both Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, believing the latter’s work provides a foundation for Christian philosophical work.

This work also includes brief essays on Maritain’s ideas on the role of faith-informed reason in the work of apologetics, and further elaborating the ideas already touched on concerning moral philosophy.

I found this a challenging read. Some has to do with Maritain’s context, unfamiliar to me. The writing is also dense, laden with philosophical jargon. This edition helps with providing a glossary of many of the technical terms Maritain uses. This is an academic paper, given for other specialists. I hope at some point that someone will produce an annotated version. The ideas are important as a model of what it means to think Christianly about anything. Maritain significantly influenced John Paul II’s personalism. This essay is a concise summary of a significant part of his thought. It is worthy of explication. show less

A difficult read indeed. My interest in the evolution of Catholic thought, Thomas Aquinas, and Aristotle were discussed within the context of Bergsonian philosophy. If understood correctly and oversimplified, that reality is found through intuition, by by-passing the intellect. It goes against everything I have been taught but this was the height of philosophical discussion in 1911.
Did enjoy his appendix on Aristotle.

Art and Scholasticism is a collection of essays on the philosophy of art, fine art particularly. They are influenced by scholasticism in that the author frequently references classical sources, Aquinas mostly, and the philosophers, in support of his ideas. The contemporary or more modern sources referenced are mostly French, and I suspect this is partly due to the author favouring his countrymen, but it is excusable for the reason that the French do seem genuinely bent towards this kind of show more discussion of art, Proust indulging in some similar discussion in his novel to those here made.
Aesthetics and art are areas of philosophy I have not read into before, and this book seems more concerned with the latter. Art as discussed here being the process of the creation of a material form, in the attempt to capture the glimspe of form of beauty that the artist sees. Aesthetics, the philosophy of what makes something beautiful is separate, and is not really discussed as much here. show less

A difficult book to read. Discussion of man's development of philosophy and the history of Greek philosophers was enlightening as far as the discussion of early Greek. Very much weighted to a Christian bent. A lot of skimming.