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23 - Jacques Maritain

(1882–1973)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2019

Olivier Descamps
Affiliation:
Pantheon-Assas University, Paris
Rafael Domingo
Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta
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Summary

This chapter identifies some of the major themes and contributions made by the French Catholic philosopher, Jacques Maritain (1882–1973), to the philosophy of law and to human rights. While Maritain’s views on law follow, in many respects, those of St Thomas Aquinas, they reflect Maritain’s distinctive personalist philosophy and his important distinction between the individual and the person. Maritain also provides an explicit critique and alternative to the dominant, primarily positivist views of his time. His arguments for human rights served to influence Catholic social teaching and played a role in the reception and, arguably, the development of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Even today, Maritain’s philosophy of law and political philosophy continue to be of interest to philosophers, historians, and jurists alike.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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References

Recommended Reading

Barré, Jean-Luc. Jacques et Raïssa Maritain, les mendiants du ciel. Paris: Stock, 1996. English translation: Jacques & Raïssa Maritain: Beggars for Heaven. Translated by Doering, Bernard E.. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005.Google Scholar
BrennanPatrick McKinley. “Jacques Maritain: Philosopher of Law, Politics, and All That Is.” In The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature, edited by Witte, John Jr. and Alexander, Frank, vol. 2, 3467. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Charette, Léon. “Le droit naturel et le droit des gens d’après Jacques Maritain.” Maritain Studies/Etudes Maritainiennes 5 (1989): 4162.Google Scholar
De Koninck, Charles. De la primauté du bien commun contre les personnalistes. Le principe de l’ordre nouveau. Montréal: Éditions Fides, 1943.Google Scholar
Fruchaud, Louis-Damien. “Jacques Maritain, Michel Villey: Le thomisme face aux droits de l’homme.” Memoire, DEA de droit public interne, Université de Paris II Panthéon-Assas, 2005.Google Scholar
Hittinger, F. Russell. “Maritain on Human Rights as Constitutional Limits.” Paper presented at New York University, sponsored by Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs and The American Maritain Association. Nov. 9, 1994.Google Scholar
Hittinger, John P. Liberty, Wisdom, and Grace: Thomism and Democratic Political Theory. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2002.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Kai. “An Examination of the Thomistic Theory of Natural [Moral] Law.” In Natural Law Forum 4 (1959): 4471. Reprinted in Nielsen, God and the Grounding of Morality, 41–68. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press, 1991.Google Scholar
McCauliff, Catherine M.Jacques Maritain’s Embrace of Religious Pluralism and the Declaration on Religious Freedom.” Seton Hall Law Review 41 (2011): 593624.Google Scholar
Meinveille, Julio. Critica de la Concepción de Maritain sobre la Persona Humana. Buenos Aires: Edn. Nuestro Tiempo, 1948.Google Scholar
Possenti, V.Philosophie du droit et loi naturelle selon Jacques Maritain.” Revue Thomiste 83 (1983): 598608.Google Scholar
Sweet, William. “Maritain, Jacques.” In The Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia, edited by Gray, Christopher B., vol. 1, 533–35. 2 vols. New York: Garland Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Sweet, William. “Maritain’s Criticisms of Natural Law Theories.” Études maritainiennes/Maritain Studies 12 (1996): 3349.Google Scholar
Sweet, William. “The Metaphysical and Epistemological Foundations of Natural Law in Jacques Maritain” [in English and in Chinese]. Universitas: Monthly Review of Philosophy and Culture 388 (September 2006): 1533; 83–98.Google Scholar
Viola, Francesco. “Jacques Maritain et les problems épistémologiques actuels de la science juridique.” Nova et Vetera (1978): 279–90.Google Scholar

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