French Philosopher
[1882-1973]
In 1882, Maritain was born in Paris, France, and in his late teenage years and early twenties, studied philosophy at the Lycee and at the Sorbonne.
In 1901, Maritain met his wife Raissa Oumansoff, and the two of them together underwent a spiritual journey in the next three years of their lives. (This included both of them committing suicide if they could not find a reason to live). With the help of their teacher Bergson and thwir conversion to Catholicism, they found meaning in life once more and Maritain proceeded to delve more into philosophy.
In the summer of 1908, Jacques wrote intensively on Thomas Aquinas and much of his work can be seen in the first book he published on Aquinas in 1930. Maritain also wrote (note: non-italicized titles are not actual titles of the book):
La Science Moderne et la Raison [1910]
La Philosophie bergsonienne [1913]
On Religion and Culture [1930]
On Christian Philosophy [1933]
On Descartes [1932]
Humanisme Integral [1936]
De La Justice Politique [1940]
Les Droits de l'homme et la roi naturelle [1942]
Christianisme et Democratie [1943]
La Personne et le bien Commun [1947]
The most important thing to remember about Maritain is that he had a very liberal philosophy. Not suprisingly, his philosophy was very popular in Latin America and received disdain from both the right and the left in France.
For most of his later life, Maritain travelled around the world teaching and lecturing in various places. (The most important place was the University of Chicago, of course)!
In 1973, Maritain died and was buried in Alsace, France, next to his wife who had died thirteen years earlier.
Other sources of information
The Window-Maritain
Stanford: Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain
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