An Introduction to Philosophy

by Jacques Maritain

Jacques Maritain's An Introduction to Philosophy was first published in 1931. Since then, this book has stood the test of time as a clear guide to what philosophy is and how to philosophize. Inspired by the Thomistic Revival called for by Leo XIII, Maritain relies heavily on Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas to shape a philosophy that, far from sectarian theology in disguise, is driven by reason and engages the modern world. Re-released as part of the Sheed & Ward Classic series, An Introduction to Philosophy is sure to enliven the minds of students and general readers for years to come. From the new introduction by Ralph You are about to read a magnificent introduction not only to a kind of philosophy but to philosophizing itself. Jacques Maritain was a relatively young man when he wrote this book, but his effort is one that attracts any philosopher more and more as he grows older. However odd and unusual what he says becomes, the philosopher yearns to show how even the most abstruse claims can be put into relation with what the reader already knows. That, in its essence, is what teaching is. In this book, the reader will find a wise and certain guide into philosophizing as such. And, in the end, he will find that what he reads is really only a refinement and development of what he and everybody else already knew.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Nonfiction, History, Religion, Classics, Catholic

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

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

[Adam Marischuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different kind of introduction

Despite being called 'An Introduction to Philosophy' really the book is an introduction to the philosophy of Aristotle viewed through the lens of Thomas Aquinas. This is what Maritain means by 'philosophy' anyways, because there is but one philosophy, the philosophia perennis espoused in Aeterni Patris. All other philosophies are measured against this and judged according to their agreement/disagreement with Aquinas.

I remember reading somewhere that 'An Introduction' was written by Maritain because of his belief that seminarian formation was sorely wanting in philosophy, specifically Thomism. Likewise Copleston's entire 'History of Philosophy' but the two took very different paths. Copleston gives a rather unbiased history which Maritain's 'Introduction' makes no attempts at presenting opposing philosophical positions but rathe disproving them using Aquinas and Aristotle as the hammer and anvil on which all others must be re-forged.

Of interesting note is Maritain's opening section on 'Pre-Philosophic Thought' and his discussion of Indian and Chinese thought (with a small section reserved for the Persians). Maritain's presentation of Brahmanism, Lao-Tse and Confucius is far from neutral, as the following illustrates:

"This brief historical sketch has shown the important part in the life of humanity played by the sages and their wisdom. All these nations, situated on the frontiers of darkness, and lacking a divine revelation of truth, were obliged, when their religions proved incapable of satisfying the needs of the individual soul or of society, to have recourse to the wisdom supplied by human reason...It has also shown how this human wisdom has everywhere proved bankrupt." (p. 42)

Following that section are sections on pre-Socratic, Sophist and Socrates, then Plato and Aristotle. This marks the end of phislopophic 'history' and from here Maritain moves into distinguishing philosophy as a subject: The Definition of Philosophy, Philosophy and Science, Philosophy and Theology etc.

The final half of the book is a very good introduction (I use the word lightly, but the section is far from light) of the thought of "the philosophy of Aristotle, as revived and enriched by St. Thomas and his school" (p.8). It includes chapters on logic, epistemology and aethetics, but most importantly three chapters devoted to metaphysics (ontology). This constitutes the 'meat' of the book and is quite technical for those not familiar with the language and specific terminology.

[Jonathan Widell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title "Introduction to Philosophy" is not only banal but misleading and, above all, does not do justice to the formidable work that Maritain does in this book. The book is an overview of Aristotelian and (neo)Thomistic philosophy and goes deeper into its intricacies than any "introduction to philosophy" I have seen.

The first part of the book makes the case that Aristotle was the greatest philosopher of all time. The inanity of such a claim is only apparent, as Maritain's plea demonstrates. It certainly made me reassess my dismissal of much of Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy, which I admit I have been guilty of on too flimsy grounds.

The second part looks into the nitty-gritty of Aristotelian and (neo)Thomistic philosophy. It seems trite but, at closer inspection, it appears trite because it makes sense, which is exactly what Aristotelian philosophy prides itself on. Maritain's exposition revolves around one term: intellect and its cognates, such as intelligible, intelligibility. Maritain is not ashamed to admit that intellect is in line with what we call the common sense. Regrettably, common sense is a much maligned concept in contemporary philosophy because of its supposedly unavoidable ideological underpinnings. Maritain made me reassess the bad press which has been heaped on "common sense" in our time.

Another much maligned concept Maritain feasts on is metaphysics, which is in practice natural theology, that part of philosophy that points us to God without the help of divine revelation. Metaphysics is a servant of revealed or supernatural theology in the sense that nothing a theologian says can contradict metaphysics (or other branches of philosophy, such as logic, ethics etc. for that matter).

Maritain is not wholly devoid of pedantry (hence that one missing star in my rating) in his explanation of "essence" as opposed to "existence" and "substance" as opposed to "accidents" etc. Again, the problem seems to be that the distinctions sound as so much hair-splitting. Do we not already know this, the reader may ask himself. However, this is the type of collateral damage that Maritain gladly accepts because the force of Aristotelian philosophy is that it makes sense and its concepts are...intelligible. No matter how many foreign-sounding concepts Maritain parades, there is nothing that the reader does not already know somehow.

Even if Aristotelian philosophy does not have the reputation of being "cool" at the moment, his philosophy does have the power to demolish more recent philosophies which, by implication, do NOT make sense! Maritain explains that the attraction of such philosophies is that they have been developed by some supposedly exceptional individual regardless of whether they make sense or not. And they do not. That it not their strength but their weakness and, ironically, their weaknesses redound to bolstering the case of Aristotle, as Maritain demonstrates. Successfully, I think.

[Eduardo Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

O título engana, seria melhor o título de - ''Introdução Geral à filosofia tomista''. Ademais, é um excelente livro tanto em introdução como em profundidade dos campos. O autor, jacques maritain, faz algo inédito na minha experiência, coloca um texto com a letra maior - o texto mais fundamental - e com a letra menor o texto mais aprofundado. Certamente, é um dos livros que recomendarei quando precisar de indicar um estudo iniciático do tomismo.

[Oliver Brauning · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book I have read in a long time—at least since July. It is nearly flawless. It's comprehensive, clear, and very direct. Understanding what Maritain is writing about is as simple as parsing the sentences for subject and predicate and assigning meaning to words based on their definitions.

I was astounded at times reading this, as I would find my heart thrilled by its ideas. First, until reading An Introduction to Philosophy I had never really thought it possible to find enjoyment in contemplation itself; but then there I was enjoying it. I was extremely attracted to the idea, exemplified throughout, that by philosophy we can attain scientific knowledge of God. Then second, I was pleased to learn the true meaning of terms like "formal," "aseity," and "accident". Lastly, I was amazed to discover that what we know from philosophy is not only knowledge but actually human wisdom.

For all my life I have struggled against the ubiquitous delusion of self-actualization, but in this book Maritain crushes it in a matter of a few sentences.

All changeable things, in whatever respect they are subject to change, are compounded of potentiality and act. God alone, since he is absolutely unchangeable, is devoid of any potentiality. Since he is subsistent Being itself of the Fullness of Being, he is incapable of becoming; there is no perfection which he does not possess or rather is not already; he is pure act.

The being of all other things, on the contrary, is too poor and too weak to realize simultaneously everything they are capable of being. For every one of them there is really open a vast range of possibilities, of which they can never realize more than a few, and that by changing.

The corollary is obvious, then. Since only God can properly self-actualize, any human attempt to do so is an attempt to be God. I find this fact extremely comforting. It allows one to get away from the rat race. There is no pressure to do something which is impossible. This principle I think has all kinds of implications for life.

I was interested in philosophy but felt that I needed somewhere basic to start. I was also already predisposed to a high opinion of Aristotle. This book was therefore pretty much perfect for me, and I heartily recommend it to others.

[Maxime N. Georgel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacques Maritain nous introduit à la philosophie, mais il fait bien plus, il nous expose les premiers principes de la Philosophie, la vraie. Celle qui se base sur le sens commun non pas comme un bâtiment se base sur une fondation mais comme il s'appuie sur son échafaudage. Celle qui nait véritablement avec Socrate, se sytématise avec Platon, se perfectionne avec Aristote et atteint sa maturité dans le Christianisme, avec Thomas D'Aquin en particulier. Celle qui est supérieure aux sciences en ce qu'elle les juge, les dirige et les défend. Celle qui se soumet à la théologie, non pas dans ses principes, mais dans ses conclusions et qui, par elle, est gardée d'erreurs grossières et qui, par là même, est dirigée plus facilement vers la vérité. Celle qui progresse par pure logique à partir, non pas à partir de postulats arbitraires, mais à partir de vérités connues par soi et indéniables sans entraîner une absurdité immédiate. Celle qui admet qu'il est difficile d'atteindre la vérité, mais que c'est chose possible et qui encourage à l'humilité et la discipline. Humilité en ce qu'elle nécessite des maîtres qui nous enseigne et oblige à reconnaître la difficulté de la tâche. Mais non pas humilité qui s'oppose à la certitude des conclusions atteintes. Discipline aussi car, à part la lâcheté, c'est la seule attitude raisonnable face à la difficulté.

Cette introduction est tout simplement excellente et claire.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I expected, this was introduction to Aristotlean/Thomistic philosophy and a criticism of any other school.

A challenging read, especially the middle part of the book about substance, essence, accident. The fine distinctions in language and definitions around these matters seemed to go on and on, and frankly much of it was over my head. I was somewhat surprised about how little natural theology was addressed (a chapter of about 4 pages), and even more so the fact that teleology was not a subject at all.

Do I know more about this school of philosophy now? Yes. Could there be a better introductory book out there for it? I hope so. Would I recommend this to someone as a first book on the subject? Definitely not (the Feser books I've read are much easier to follow).

[Thadeus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good overview of philosophy. If I can only retain what I've read.

[Andrew Talbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for making accessible a host of philosophical language from the Aristotelean-Thomist tradition

[Sam Saurez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely phenomenal introduction to thomistic philosophy, or just philosophy in general. Maritain does an excellent job explicating the mind of st Thomas on his most fundamentally positions (epistemology, the nature of theology/philosophy, essence and existence and other thomistic metaphysical principles such as hylomorphism etc.) Maritain also does a great job of presenting the views of other schools of thought (nominalism, Cartesianism, kantianism etc) and the thomistic response to them. He does it in a style which a beginner can understand yet it is style philosophically robust and rigorous. 10/10 book if you want to get started in thomistic philosophy.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this introduction to philosophy which clearly advocated a return to Thomism which is a fitting to the skepticism, relativism, and modernism that was/is tearing logic asunder. Jacques Maritain did his best to organize the various areas of philosophy and I followed him for the most part, but struggled toward the last quarter of it. That's probably my own lack of patience and unfamiliarity with the various terms of philosophy. He also quoted extensively from Latin without providing translations which I found irritating.

[Patrick Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this brief, lucid, and historically formulated introduction, Maritain has very high praise for the Greeks and above all Aristotle for what is imagined as a gradual ascent to a hylomorphic metaphysic.

Even so, I am troubled by his appeals in this book and in other works by Maritain to common sense: He makes an analogy to the construction of a building (a metaphysic) by first building a scaffold (a priori assumptions based on common sense). But I suppose that not all such gaps can be filled in such a brief introduction.

[Daniel Stepke · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent summation of the major moves and ideas of thomism! from very funny moments (he does not discuss the history of philosophy in any summary kind of way, saying aristotle was the peak) to very insightful moments (philosophy as opposed to other ways humans think was very insightful) to inbetween (the analysis of being was perplexing) it was a worthwile read; i am not sure i am a thomist, but it is good to glean from them

[Damien Rappuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for something that more vividly demonstrated Jacques Maritain's Aquinan training. This is an okay basic introduction to analytic philosophy, but I see little use for it outside of 1950s classroom instruction.

[Laurent Dv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Présente très clairement la philosophie d'Aristote et Thomas d'Aquin, surtout la métaphysique et ontologie dans ce tome (petite partie pour l'art et l'éthique).

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, it made sense to me in the start but as someone who has never done philosophy in her life i got completely lost at the end lol

[Matthew Purt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent content but the style shows its age. ‘Christian Philosophy’ by Fr Joseph De Torre is a better read.

[Jacob Strange · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid philosophy intro.

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maritain was young and way too confident, it is especially obvious in the first chapters where non-western philosophy is thrown away like nothing.

I understand that it is an introduction and that it can't develop too much about why it is right and others are mistaken but it then shouldn't present itself as certain as it does about its subjects and supposed truths.

Reading this feels like philosophy almost already ended with Aristotle and Aquinas simply adjusted a few things and after that, every other philosophy was simply wrong because Thomism has supposedly the perfect "middle-ground" of all of them.

There is a lot to be learned from Thomism but even with sympathy to it, I can't accept it as the definitive philosophy (or "perennis philosophia" as he puts it). This kind of end-of-thought statement seems itself anti-philosophical, by wanting to be eternal, it is rejecting itself as philosophy.

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for what it does.

[graceofgod · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a Truly Authentic Catholic Traditionalist because I enjoyed this book. Lord help me. On to Charles De Koninck I guess...

[sch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read and read from this marvelous book several times. In fact, I'm trying to learn French, to read it in the original.

[Alexander McAuliffe]

Read all but the last chapter, and I could no longer muster the enthusiasm to read more ontology.