Jacques Maritain and the Moral Foundation of Democracy

Jacques Maritain and the Moral Foundation of Democracy
Author: John DiJoseph
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Incorporated
Total Pages: 173
Release: 1996-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780847682478

This work probes the philosophical presuppositions that underpin Jacques Maritain's political theory, particularly his theory that democracy and Christianity are inexorably linked. It is particularly relevant today with the rise of bourgeois liberal democracy in the US and Western Europe.

Jacques Maritain and the Moral Foundation of Democracy

Jacques Maritain and the Moral Foundation of Democracy
Author: John DiJoseph
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1996
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN:

In this book, John DiJoseph probes the philosophical presuppositions that undergird Jacques Maritain's political theory, particularly his theory that democracy and Christianity are inexorably linked. Maritain's theory of democracy is particularly relevant today with the ascendancy of what Maritain called bourgeois liberal democracy in the United States and Western Europe; a type of democracy that Maritain thought would lead to the eventual demise of Western culture. In opposition to the bourgeois liberal democracy, Maritain posited a personalist democracy with a uniquely Christain soul. DiJoseph traces the historical and philosophical development of Maritain's debt to Henri Bergson and Alexis De Tocqueville and Maritain's break with classical Christian and Catholic political thought. The book will not only appeal to scholars of history and political science but also to those concerned with the current debate over the philosophical basis of democracy and the cultural decline of the West.

Jacques Maritain and the Many Ways of Knowing

Jacques Maritain and the Many Ways of Knowing
Author: Douglas A. Ollivant
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2002
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780966922646

Drawing on the writings of Jacques Maritain--and by extension those of Thomas Aquinas--the essays in this volume examine the effects of theories of knowledge on individuals, culture, and entire schools of philosophical thought. The contributors challenge contemporary epistemologies, which are largely based on writings of Descartes, Locke, and Kant. They critique these theories internally and demonstrate their incompatibility with other goods, such as liberty, human dignity, and access to the transcendent. In stark contrast to modernity's dubious and fragmented opinions and belief systems, Maritain--in works like The Degrees of Knowledge and Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry--proposed a theory of knowledge that permits real, if limited, knowledge of substances, wholes. Some contributors use these works as a springboard from which to examine aspects or applications of knowledge that Maritain left unexplored. Others challenge or question aspects of Maritain's analysis, seeking to improve upon his work. Still others compare Maritain with other neo-Thomistic philosophers, most notably Etienne Gilson, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Pope John Paul II. Maritain's works on human knowledge and the implicit critique of modernity contained within provide an alternative for those seeking to engage the various deficiencies of the "culture of death." These essays demonstrate the continuing relevance--and timeliness--of Maritain's thought. Douglas A. Ollivant is assistant professor of politics at the United States Military Academy. Contributors: George Anastaplo, James Arraj, Joseph M. de Torre, Robert Delfino, Raymond Dennehy, John M. Dunaway, Robert Fallon, Desmond FitzGerald, William J. Fossati, W. Matthews Grant, Catherine Green, James G. Hanink, Gregory J. Kerr, John F. X. Knasas, John F. Morris, Ralph Nelson, Douglas A. Ollivant, Matthew S. Pugh, Steven J. Schloeder, Christopher H. Toner, John G. Trapani, Jr., Henk E. S. Woldring, and Thomas F. Woods. "This is a valuable collection of articles on an important individual who is still influencing contemporary political thought."--Lucien J. Richard, OMI, Catholic Library World

The Political Problem of Religious Pluralism

The Political Problem of Religious Pluralism
Author: Thaddeus J. Kozinski
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2010
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0739141686

In contemporary political philosophy, there is much debate over how to maintain a public order in pluralistic democracies in which citizens hold radically different religious views. The Political Problem of Religious Pluralism deals with this theoretically and practically difficult issue by examining three of the most influential figures of religious pluralism theory: John Rawls, Jacques Maritain, and Alasdair MacIntyre. Drawing on a diverse number of sources, Kozinski addresses the flaws in each philosopher's views and shows that the only philosophically defensible end of any overlapping consensus political order must be the eradication of the ideological pluralism that makes it necessary. In other words, a pluralistic society should have as its primary political aim to create the political conditions for the communal discovery and political establishment of that unifying tradition within which political justice can most effectively be obtained. Kozinski's analysis, though exhaustive and rigorous, still remains accessible and engaging, even for a reader unversed in the works of Rawls, Maritain, and MacIntyre. Interdisciplinary and multi-thematic in nature, it will appeal to anyone interested in the intersection of religion, politics, and culture.

Journal of Moral Theology, Volume 13, Special Issue 1

Journal of Moral Theology, Volume 13, Special Issue 1
Author: Laurie Johnston
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2024-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

C O N T E N T S Introduction: Jacques Maritain and Contemporary Challenges to Democracy Laurie Johnston Threading the Needle: Jacques Maritain’s Defense of a Christian and Liberal Democracy Mary Doak Jacques Maritain, “Pure” Nature, and the State’s Teleological Crisis Gilbrian Stoy, CSC Distinct But Not Separate: Rethinking Maritain’s Distinction of Planes to Recover His Democratic Potential Travis Knoll Rescuing Maritain from His Reception History: A Reappraisal of William T. Cavanaugh’s Critique in Torture and Eucharist Brian J. A. Boyd Revisiting Maritain in the Present Context—A Response to Gilbrian Stoy, Travis Knoll, and Brian Boyd William T. Cavanaugh Partners in Forming the People: Jacques Maritain, Saul Alinsky, and the Project of Personalist Democracy Nicholas Hayes-Mota Community Organizing for Democratic Renewal: The Significance of Jacques Maritain’s Support for Saul Alinsky and His Methods Brian Stiltner A Common World is Possible: Maritain, Pope Francis, and the Future of Global Governance Kevin Ahern Catholic Social Teaching: Toward a Decolonial Praxis Alex Mikulich Afterword John T. McGreevy

Italy's Christian Democracy

Italy's Christian Democracy
Author: Rosario Forlenza
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2024-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198859864

The first comprehensive study of Italian Christian Democracy in English, Italy's Christian Democracy unravels the encounter between Catholicism and democracy from pre-unification Italy in the eighteenth century to the near-present. Forlenza and Thomassen put the triumphant emergence of the Christian Democratic political party that ruled Italy from 1948 to 1994 into historical perspective. With a focus on critical moments of modern Italian history - the Enlightenment and French Revolution, the Risorgimento, World War I, the fascist period, World War II, the post-war Republic - Italy's Christian Democracy demonstrates the often-dramatic ways in which Catholic thinkers, from laymen to priests and bishops, sought to interpret and direct democratic thought and practice in line with Catholic ethics. The Christian Democracy was much more than reactionary politics - namely a sincere attempt to integrate a religious worldview into modern politics. Contrary to a purely secular reading, the authors demonstrate that the Catholic embrace of political modernity and democracy emerged as a historically significant alternative to both fascism and socialism, liberalism and conservativism, attempting to re-anchor democracy, justice, and freedom in a religiously argued ethos. Italy's Christian Democracy contributes to existing scholarship by stressing two interrelated aspects crucial for a better understanding of the role that Catholicism and Christian Democracy have played in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the political dimension of transcendence and spirituality and the transformative power of historical experiences and events. The narrative considers the religious and spiritual impulse behind Christian democratic thought, framing Christian Democracy as a distinct form of "political spirituality". Offering a novel historical narrative, Italy's Christian Democracy stresses the contemporary relevance of the nexus between Christianity and modern politics: the current spread of identity politics and the increasing use of religion in political and public discourse, recently appropriated by new populist parties and movements, in Italy and beyond.

Christianity And Democracy In Global Context

Christianity And Democracy In Global Context
Author: John Witte
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2019-03-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429720076

In the past, Christianity has had both positive and negative influences on democracy. Christian churches have served as benevolent agents of welfare and catalysts of political reform. But they have also served as belligerent allies of repression and censors of human rights. Christian theology has helped to cultivate democratic ideas of equality, li

Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought
Author: Christopher John Murray
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 748
Release: 2013-01-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135455643

In this wide-ranging guide to twentieth-century French thought, leading scholars offer an authoritative multi-disciplinary analysis of one of the most distinctive and influential traditions in modern thought. Unlike any other existing work, this important work covers not only philosophy, but also all the other major disciplines, including literary theory, sociology, linguistics, political thought, theology, and more.

Italian Modernities

Italian Modernities
Author: Rosario Forlenza
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2016-09-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137492120

This book argues that Italy represents a privileged entry point into the comparative analysis of ideologies and experiences of modernity. The book compares how thinkers and politicians belonging to different ideological clusters - Liberalism, Communism, Fascism, Chistian Democracy - came to formulate multiple and often antagonistic visions of Italy's road to the modern. By revisiting Italian political history from the late nineteenth century until the present with a focus on transition periods, Italian Modernities explores how competing historical narratives influenced shifting understandings of Italian nationhood, thus foregrounding the active role of memory politics in the formulation of multiple modernities.