Existence and the Existent by Jacques Maritain - 2015

Paulist Press, 2015. Paperback. New Book. Paperback. Written by Maritain (1882-1973), a French Catholic philosopher and commentator on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, this volume challenges existentialism and the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre, Soren Kierkegaard, and Martin Heidegger. Maritain argues that St. Thomas Aquinas is the true existentialist because he asserts the necessity of essence in addition to existence, and that the focus on existence in existentialism is a mistake. He outlines the fundamentals of Thomist metaphysics and the errors of existentialism, especially the atheistic version proposed by Sartre, and uses existentialism to examine being or existence from a Thomist perspective. He discusses authentic metaphysics, the three acts of the mind (simple apprehension, judgment, and reasoning), and the intuition of being and how it is the root of all authentic metaphysical knowledge; the metaphysics of the life of the practical intellect and the role of free choice; the human person as subject; the problem of evil, the role of human freedom in moral life, and the relationship between the relative autonomy of human freedom and the predestination to God; and the strengths and limitations of philosophy in exploring the spiritual dimension of reality. (2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR)