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The three books presented in this volume, Integral Humanism, Freedom in the Modern World, and A Letter on Independence, were all written in the early 1930s, a time of dire trouble for France. France was then surrounded by enemies preparing for war and was itself so violently split between parties of Left and Right that it seemed on the verge of civil war. In this collection, Jacques Maritain accepts the responsibility of a Christian philosopher to actively address the agonizing practical problems of the time.
Maritain discusses major political issues such as the relation of freedom and religion, the opposition of democracy to any form of totalitarianism, the relation of the spiritual and the temporal, the need for an integral and Christian humanism, and the prospects for a new Christian civilization, all in opposition to the materialism of both communism and capitalism.
Against the fierce antagonism of the parties of the political Left and Right, Maritain declares a plague on both their houses and strongly affirms the need for independence from both of them. He does so by distinguishing between two senses of the terms Left and Right, one denoting a temperamental or physiological disposition, the other a definite political position. In the latter sense, Maritain asserts that he is an independent, while acknowledging that he is, by temperament, a man of the Left.
"It might be appropriate to mention, in passing, that not all highly placed churchman thought Maritain to be a fit object for criticism. Maritain's Integral Humanism, which was the focal point of Cardinal Siri's criticism, was cited in Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Populorum Progessio? Another cardinal, Charles Journet, himself a theologian of the first rank, regarded Maritain "as being in his own way the most penetrating theologian of our time.'" —Catholic Social Science Review
"Published on the eve of the Second World War, Integral Humanism had its most profound effect upon the post-war generation engaged in rebuilding Europe and eventually reforming the Church at the Council. In it, Maritain clearly proposes an alternative to the political integralisms of his era." –Lumen Christi Institute's Master Class on “The Integralism of Jacques Maritain”
"In Integral Humanism, Maritain offers a sketch of how a religiously pluralistic society could pass laws inspired by Christian moral principles....Of course Maritain offers only a philosopher’s sketch, but such a system promotes laws inspired by Christian morality and safeguards the freedom of non-Christian minorities, without adopting strict liberal neutrality." –Public Discourse
"For many of us coming of age in the early 1960s, our first serious exposure to the notion that "public life is not the first thing"...came in the writings of Jacques Maritain in Integral Humanism. He taught us that the human person is both material and spiritual, and can become more than a merely self-interested individual by acquiring and practicing the habits necessary to actualize his humanity. Indeed, man may rise to the heights of reason and purpose latent within his nature, most efficaciously through prayerful communion with other persons under divine guidance." –First Things
Jacques Maritain (1882–1973), a French philosopher and political thinker, was one of the principal exponents of Thomism in the twentieth century and an influential interpreter of the thought of St.Thomas Aquinas.
Otto A. Bird was the founder and first director of the General Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He was the author of several books, including Cultures in Conflict: An Essay in the Philosophy of the Humanities (University of Notre Dame Press, 1978).