THE END OF MAN IN JACQUES MARITAIN’S CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY

• Authors: Denis A. Scrandis
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This essay considers man’s perennial search for the meaning of life, specifically in its philosophical (Aristotelian) formulation namely as the pursuit of happiness, and how Christianity radically redefined the issue. Jacques Maritain began his philosophical analysis on the basis of Aristotle’s analysis because he regards Aristotle’s position as the finest fruit of reason even though it fails. Maritain’s analysis supplements Aristotle’s with man’s experience of the Incarnation and the Christian’s experience of faith, hope, and charity. Jesus promised the good thief “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43) and thereby identified God as man’s objective end. Jacques Maritain’s reflection employs rational concepts drawn from reason and theological concepts taken from theology, adequately considered the issue, and constitutes a Christian philosophical treatment of the end of man.

Keywords

EN

Absolute ultimate end; anthropology; beatitude; Christian philosophy; happiness; eudaimonia; Incarnation; supreme end; sovereign end; theological virtues; faith; hope; charity

• Publisher: International Étienne Gilson Society
• Journal: Studia Gilsoniana
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 573-583

Dates

published

2017-12-30

Contributors

author

Denis A. Scrandis

• St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY USA

References

• Bartlett, Robert C. “Aristotle’s Introduction to the Problem of Happiness: On Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (2008): 677–687.
• Di Blasi, Fulvio. “Ultimate End, Human Freedom, and Beatitude: A Critique of Germain Grisez.” The American Journal of Jurisprudence 46:1 (January 2001): 113–135.
• Grisez, Germain. “Man, Natural End of.” In The New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. Ed. William Wallace, O.P. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967, 132–138.
• Maritain, Jacques. Moral Philosophy, a Historical and Critical Survey of the Great Systems. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1964.
• Ramsing, Ron. “A Critique of Aristotelian Ethics of Happiness and Enlightenment Ethics.” Illuminare 7:1 (2001): 11–18.
• Metz, Thaddeus. “The Meaning of Life.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. Summer 2013 Edition: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/ sum2013/entries/life-meaning/, accessed on Nov 20, 2017.

Identifiers

ISSN

2300-0066