Natural Law: Reflections on Theory & Practice

By Carlos Whitlock Porter and Jacques Maritain

Book Overview

Can there be universal moral principles in a culturally and religiously diverse world? Are such principles provided by a theory of natural law? Jacques' response to both questions is "yes".

These essays, selected from the writings of one of the most influential philosophers of the past hundred years, provide a clear statement of Maritain's theory of natural law and natural rights. Maritain's ethics and political philosophy occupies a middle ground between the extremes of individualism and collectivism. Written during a period when cultural diversity and pluralism were beginning to have an impact on ethics and politics, these essays provide a defense of natural law and natural right that continues to be timely.

The first essay introduces Maritain's theory of connatural knowledge -- knowledge by inclination -- that lies at the basis of his distinctive views on moral philosophy, aesthetics, and mystical belief. The second essay gives Maritain's principal metaphysical arguments for natural law as well as his account of how that law can be naturally known and universally held.

The third essay in this collection explains the roots of the natural law and shows how it provides a rational foundation for other kinds of law and for human rights. In the fourth essay, reflecting his personalism and integral humanism, Maritain indicates how he extends his understanding of human rights to include the rights of the civic and of the social or working person.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 189031868X
• ISBN13: 9781890318680
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: St. Augustine's Press
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

thought-provoking

You'll go into a Barnes and Noble and see on a desk a sign raised which reads "thought-provoking." More often than not the desk inhabits atheist agenda and nonsense, which the casual reader is always tempted to wonder about, though the trained reader always deplores. This is a book - this is an author - that deserves the title "thought-provoking." Maritain is as interesting, is as lucid, is as creative as he is brilliant.

One of the best if not the best

Maritain has a goldmine of information in this little book for those interested in the tradtional view of Natural Law. I have read several books on the Natural Law, some very good ones, but they all left me with a feeling of incompleteness. Maritain does not do this, he fills the gap here and covers an immense amount of ground in such a short space. Worthy of special mention is the relationship of human rights to the Natural Law and how rights must be founded on it - for without Natural Law there is no true obligation. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the moral and political applications of Natural Law.