Book Reviews : Man and the State. By JACQUES MARITAIN. (Chicago: Chicago University Press. 1951. Pp. x, 219. $3.50.)
| Date | 01 December 1951 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591295100400416 |
| Published date | 01 December 1951 |
| Author | Richard E. Twohy |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
653
who
agree
with
the
author
that
the
foreign
policies
of
the
democracies
lack
realism,
and
who
are
spiritually
braced
by
contemplating
the
stern
demands
of
the
&dquo;security
and
power
dilemma.&dquo;
Yet
they
may
find
dis-
turbing
the
inevitable
qualification.
&dquo;The
kind
of
realism
which
is
so
widespread
today
is
mainly
cynicism....
With
the
flame
of
ethical
idealism
which
underlies
genuine
liberalism
in
danger
of
being
extin-
guished,
the
very
basis
of
liberal
action
is
in
danger
of
being
paralyzed&dquo;
(pp.
247-248).
The
author
might
have
avoided
considerable
ambiguity
if
he
had
devoted
more
attention
to
the
possibilities
of
the
Anglo-Amer-
ican
tradition
of
constitutionalism
and
the
rule
of
law,
which
he
admires
’
in
passing,
as
solvents
of
his
dilemma,
not
only
for
national
communities,
but
also,
with
due
modification,
in
international
conflicts
as
well.
Stanford
University.
ARNAUD
B.
LEAVELLE.
Man
and
the
State.
By
JACQUES
MARITAIN.
(Chicago:
Chicago
University
Press.
1951.
Pp.
x,
219.
$3.50.)
The
principle
from
which
springs
most
of
what
this
book
has
to
say
to
its
title
is
the
historical
classic,
i.e.,
the
pre-rationalist
conception
of
the
Natural
Law
as
the
inherent
purposefulness
of
human
nature-&dquo;an
order
or
a
disposition
which
human
reason
can
discover
and
according
to
which
the
human
will
must
act
in
order
to
attune
itself
to
the
essential
and
necessary
ends
of
the
human
being&dquo;
(p.
86).
The
doctrine
of
the
natural
law
is
not
widely
accepted
today,
though
M.
Maritain
believes
it
would
be
more
accepted
were
it
better
understood;
if,
for
instance,
it
were
not
recklessly
confused
with
written
law,
or
with
the
rationalist
version
of
a
system
of
universal
principles
valid
for
each
and
every
occasion.
If
the
natural
law,
as
a
doctrine,
is
not
widely
accepted
the
fact
is
compensated
for,
in
part
at
least,
by
a
general
confluence
of
modern
thought
toward
such
important
practical
conclusions
of
that
doctrine
as
man’s
supreme
worth
and
dignity,
his
freedom,
his
personal
and
civic
rights
and
duties.
For
Maritain,
this
fact
provides
grounds
for
a
reflection,
similar
to
that
of
Burke’s,
regarding
our
social
partnership
in
the
residue
of
wisdom,
prudence,
art,
and
science
which
defines
progress
in
the
experi,
ence
of
mankind.
The
same
fact
makes
it
possible,
perhaps
even
necessary,
for
Maritain
to
formulate
a
political
theory
in
terms
of
what
he
calls
a
&dquo;personalist
democracy
of
a
pluralistic
type.&dquo;
Fundamental
to
this
theory
is
the
conviction
that
&dquo;men
possessing
quite
different,
even
opposite
meta-
physical
or
religious
outlooks,
can
converge ...
toward
the
same
practical
conclusions,
and
can
share
in
the
same
practical
secular
faith
...
provided
that
they
similarly
revere
truth
and
intelligence,
human
dignity,
brotherly
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