Scholasticism and Politics

by Jacques Maritain

English, French (translation)

Genres: Philosophy

Hardcover

First published October 1, 1940

About the author

T. S. Eliot once called Jacques Maritain "the most conspicuous figure and probably the most powerful force in contemporary philosophy." His wife and devoted intellectual companion, Raissa Maritain, was of Jewish descent but joined the Catholic church with him in 1906. Maritain studied under Henri Bergson but was dissatisfied with his teacher's philosophy, eventually finding certainty in the system of St. Thomas Aquinas. He lectured widely in Europe and in North and South America, and lived and taught in New York during World War II. Appointed French ambassador to the Vatican in 1945, he resigned in 1948 to teach philosophy at Princeton University, where he remained until his retirement in 1953. He was prominent in the Catholic intellectual resurgence, with a keen perception of modern French literature. Although Maritain regarded metaphysics as central to civilization and metaphysically his position was Thomism, he took full measure of the intellectual currents of his time and articulated a resilient and vital Thomism, applying the principles of scholasticism to contemporary issues. In 1963, Maritain was honored by the French literary world with the national Grand Prize for letters. He learned of the award at his retreat in a small monastery near Toulouse where he had been living in ascetic retirement for some years. In 1967, the publication of "The Peasant of the Garonne" disturbed the French Roman Catholic world. In it, Maritain attacked the "neo-modernism" that he had seen developing in the church in recent decades, especially since the Second Vatican Council. According to Jaroslav Pelikan, writing in the Saturday Review of Literature, "He laments that in avant-garde Roman Catholic theology today he can 'read nothing about the redeeming sacrifice or the merits of the Passion.' In his interpretation, the whole of the Christian tradition has identified redemption with the sacrifice of the cross. But now, all of that is being discarded, along with the idea of hell, the doctrine of creation out of nothing, the infancy narratives of the Gospels, and belief in the immortality of the human soul." Maritain's wife, Raissa, also distinguished herself as a philosophical author and poet. The project of publishing Oeuvres Completes of Jacques and Raissa Maritain has been in progress since 1982, with seven volumes now in print.

Reviews

[Michael Joosten · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't read philosophy for the prose, so be warned going in that you have to pay detailed attention--but compared with a lot of translated philosophers out there, Maritain is relatively easy-going. The title is a touch of a misnomer, because "politics," at least in the sense that we typically use the word in 2016 (the Year of Trump) doesn't quite capture the meaning. That's philosophy for you, though. Think more of the origins of the word: the Greek "polis": civilisation or society.

If you aren't a Christian--indeed, perhaps, if you aren't a Thomist Catholic--this book may fail to impress at all. Why should it, if you lack the common ground on which it is built? But if you do, as I do, you may find, as I found, that it expands the mind and links together things previously known but not articulated.

I see why my Philosophy prof is a fan and part of me regrets that I didn't seek Maritain out seven or eight years ago when I first knew that. On the other hand, I'm glad I waited till now, when I was ripe to return to philosophy and needed the right book to reopen contemplation.

[Catholic Birder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting read, especially now some ~85 years later. Sometimes he writes with such hope in democracy that it is hard not to be skeptical. I wonder what Maritain would have thought about the Post-war order, neoliberalism, globalism, and now what is commonly called "wokeism." Would he see Christian virtues in our civilization now, or would he see a different, more pernicious, more successful kind of totalitarianism which is as corrosive to brotherly love and Christian faith as the communist and national socialist societies he criticized in his time.

[Grayson Minneman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that Maritain brings about all of his points in logical, convincing ways, and points out the dangers to Christianity that the rising ideologies of the 20th present. An older read, and simple at times, but deeply thought provoking at other.