La personne et le bien commun

by Jacques Maritain

Presenting with moving insight the relations between man, as a person and as an individual, and the society of which he is a part, Maritain's treatment of a lasting topic speaks to this generation as well as those to come. Maritain employs the personalism rooted in Aquinas's doctrine to distinguish between social philosophy centered in the dignity of the human person and that centered in the primacy of the individual and the private good.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Catholic, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity

93 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 1973

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

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having recently discovered the work of Christian personalists in the 19th and 20th centuries, I turned to Jacques Maritain's lectures on notions of personality, society, and the common good. These lectures are difficult reading without a substantial acquaintance with philosophical categories, particularly in the way of metaphysics. I struggled through the theoretical portions of the lectures, but my persistance was rewarded with the final lecture "Contemporary Problems." Maritain lived through the horrors of World War II and delivers his lectures within a decade of the Allied victory. His critique on the emergence of societies is sharp, yet Christians who confess the beauty of the "imago Dei" will find themselves hard-pressed to disagree with his evaluation of bourgeois liberalism, Communism, and totalitarian nationalism.

Western Christians may shirk at the coupling of bourgeois liberalism with these historically cruel ideologies, but Maritain's critique of capitalism suggests de-humanizing patterns all its own. Just as apathy is the most dangerous sin in the human heart because of its hiddenness, when Christians embrace an unexamined captialism, especially as a component of civil religion, there will follow careless patterns of behavior, even if unintended, which harm persons--especially those among poorer classes. That is not to say that capitalism is to be dismissed full stop; it is to say that western Christians have yet to subordinate capitalism to the ethics of Jesus' kingdom. Some encouraging signs have emerged in recent years regarding western Christianity's use of wealth--microfinancing is the chief example--but this is only the beginning. As Maritain would say, the person exists for the common good, and society exists for the person. Ultimately, Maritain's vision is transcendent--we exist for the Divine Society, One God in Three Persons, wherein we live together as an eternal society--the Church dwelling forever with her God.

[graceofgod · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There is a correlation between this notion of the person as social unit and the notion of the common good as the end of the social whole. They imply one another. The common good is common because it is received in persons, each one of whom is as a mirror of the whole. Among the bees, there is a public good, namely, the good functioning of the hive, but not a common good, that is, a good received and communicated. The end of society, therefore, is neither the individual good nor the collection of the individual goods of each of the persons who constitute it. Such a conception would dissolve society as such to the advantage of its parts, and would amount to either a frankly anarchistic conception, or the old disguised anarchistic conception of individualistic materialism in which the whole function of the city is to safeguard the liberty of each; thus giving to the strong full freedom to oppress the weak."

[C. A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce petit livre propose une réflexion sur l'inadéquation des systèmes politiques et visions du monde ,dépourvus de Dieu, à considérer et œuvrer au bien 1) de l'humain en tant qu'individu et 2) à la communauté des humains.
2 citations intéressantes:
"L'homme est constitué personne, faite pour Dieu et pour la vie éternelle, avant d'être constitué partie de la cité; et il est constitué partie de la société familiale avant d'être constitué partie de la société politique." (66)
"Nous pourrions dire aussi que la société, sa vie, sa paix, ne peuvent pas subsister sans l'amitié (amitié civile), qui est la forme animatrice de la société et qui est essentiellement personnelle, et cependant les relations qui constituent structurellement la société ne concernent comme telles que la justice, qui est essentiellement impersonnelle, puisqu'elle se mesure sur les choses, précisément sans faire acception des personnes." (67)

Seul bémol: Maritain cite souvent des phrases en latin qu'il ne traduit pas toujours.

[Grazia Pugliese · Rating 2 out of 5]

Piccolo libricino, un classico della filosofia, nel quale Maritain ragiona sul rapporto tra individuo e persona e sulla relazione tra persona e società.

Ho dovuto leggere questo saggio non per piacere, ma l'argomento mi incuriosiva comunque. La differenza tra persona e individuo mi ha affascinata come anche la constatazione che, oggi, occorra tornare alla dimensione spirituale della persona per vivere senza contrasti il rapporto con la società.

Purtroppo ho trovato il testo davvero complesso e difficile da seguire. Certo, è filosofia, certo, è sempre uno scritto degli anni '40. Ma l'estrema complessità della prosa mi ha reso davvero poco piacevole la lettura (ed ero partita con le migliori intenzioni, giuro!).

[Joshua Ocon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maritain displays a profound understanding of the relationship between the person and society, grounding such not merely in the material-temporal aims of individuals and the collective that they compose, but more so in the supranatural source and end from and toward which they tend. It must be noted, however, that although concise, Maritain's style of writing makes it more difficult to understand some already complicated notions. Regardless, he manages in this work to make clear distinctions between the individual and the person which is instrumental to addressing the many modern arguments raised against the Christian conception of society.

[Diego G de la G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maritain propone una explicación personalista de la relación entre persona y bien común lejos de individualismos y totalitarismos. Aunque difiero en algunas conclusiones, las distinciones que hace para sostener su filosofía son certeras. Interesante libro para entender gran parte de las filosofías políticas del siglo XX y XXI y ver cómo se han deslindado los estados actuales de lo que proponía uno de los autores intelectuales de la DUDH.

[Sandra]

I found this a difficult read as I haven’t done any study in this field. But I did find the final chapter very helpful in defining differences between totalitarianism, communism, and bourgeoisie materialism. It helps to define the tensions between personal freedom and society and the importance of human dignity.

[Jarl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although cloaked with some scholastic obscurities in its terminology, Maritain has some interesting observations when presenting the Roman-Catholic social philosophy as distinguished from fascism, communism and liberalism.

[Jeff Lacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you rate a philosophy book? I read the book three times, twice closely, so some sections four, five, six times. The concepts are clear and Maritain writes reasonably clear.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly wonderful philosophical discussion of goodness and humanity. Definitely relevant and needed ffor today.

[Nathan Suire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Martian’s content is great but his writing style is poor. It’s clunky and confusing at times. I know it’s a translation from the French, but still…

[Tom Uytterhoeven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Start here for a critique on current Western society

Although this text stems from another context - the eve of WW II, as the author states - it remains relevant.
The good: this book gives you a sound reflection on the subtle relation between individual human beings and society, based on the notion 'person'.
The bad: for some, the reference to Thomistic philosophy in the first part of the book might be a hindrance to read through to the end. Because of its context, the book also does not take into account current religious diversity.
Conclusion: read this book if you are looking for a starting point for your own critical reflections on current Western society. Personalism still has a lot to say about that. Do look for other readings too (evolutionary psychology, e.g.), but take a look at this one. You won't regret it, I'm sure.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard about this book in an appeal from Mars Hill Audio-these appeals are more like a teaching missive than begging for money. Then seeing Timothy Keller talking about the common good, I thought I really should have better understanding of what does the common good mean.

This book looks at what a person is and his relationship to his society. He concludes that the person is supreme as it is only him who can be in relationship with God. But that does not say the society is there to serve the person. But society is there is build the person. The person in turn needs to contribute to his society-towards the common good-in order to grow in matureity. Still the aim is to increase the dignity of a person.

Maritain does a good job in laying the basis for what is a person, emphasizing the person instead of the concept of the individual. He explores the relationship between a person and his society, while showing the primacy of the person, but still showing the dependency which a person has on his society and it's good in order to mature. It is well worth the two month struggle I had in understanding this short book, 34 pages. But the reader should be forewarned that a good background in philosophy, which I do not have, will not hurt in reading this book.

For more, please look at my blog.