Rediscovering the Personalist Philosophy of Jacques Maritain

Hendrik Opdebeeck

Authors

Hendrik Opdebeeck Universidad de Amberes

Keywords:

JACQUES MARITAIN, HUMANISM, PERSONALISM, COMMON GOOD, NEO-THOMISM

Abstract

The author argues that searching for new models for business functioning and economic policy invites us to rediscover the personalist philosophy of Jacques Maritain. At the core of Maritain’s Humanisme Intégral (1936) is the idea that man is a person who is "spiritual in nature, endowed with free will, and thus autonomous in relation to the world". The paper studies temporal common good’s inner nature, that according to Maritain concerns the good life of the entire community —the common good or bonum commune— both in the material and moral sense. This bonum commune is not the ultimate goal of the temporal order, but it is subordinate to what transcends temporal welfare of the human person—the attainment of freedom and spiritual perfection. In the end, this temporal order is never completed. The definitive balance or telos is never obtained because man is always on the path.

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Author Biography

Hendrik Opdebeeck, Universidad de Amberes

PhD en Economía por la Universidad de Gante. Profesor de Filosofía y Economía en la Universidad de Amberes (Bélgica). Co-fundador del Instituto Europeo SPES.

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