Session 1: 24th October
The Theology Reading Group
invites you to this year's first session on
Jacques Maritain
on
24th October, 5 p.m.
in the Wolfson Research Exchange (Library 3rd Floor Extension)
Creative Intuition
Maritain (1882-1973) was a French philosopher, who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism in 1906 (along with his wife, Ra茂ssa Ouman莽off, a Russian Jewish 茅migr茅). His thought is heavily metaphysical and was shaped by Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle and John of St Thomas, as well as Spinoza and Henri Bergson. Maritain argued for an ethical form of 鈥榠ntegral humanism鈥� that brought together the spiritual and political within the 鈥榟uman鈥�, an idea key to the UN鈥檚 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Maritain helped draft. His theory of 鈥榗o-operation鈥� was also foundational to the Christian Democratic Movement. Maritain taught at the Coll猫ge Stanilas, the Institut Catholique de Paris, Toronto, Columbia, Princeton, Notre Dame and Chicago, and was French ambassador to the Vatican from 1945-1948. After Ra茂ssa鈥檚 death, Maritain lived with the Little Brothers of Jesus in Toulouse, France and became a Little Brother in 1970. His thought also underlines Rowan Williams鈥� 2005 Clark Lectures.
His philosophy of art gives an account of 鈥榩oetic鈥� (artistic) knowledge that sees art as a way of becoming aware of the self without overplaying the value of reason. Maritain calls this poetic knowledge as instance of 鈥榗reative intuition鈥� that arises out of 鈥榯he free creativity of the spirit鈥�: it is non-conceptual, non-rational and 鈥榦bscure鈥�, but at the same time, remains a 鈥榗oncrete reality鈥� that founds both moral and mystical experience.
The reading for this week鈥檚 session includes two sections from Maritain鈥檚 account of poetic knowledge (Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry); and Williams鈥� Clark Lecture on Maritain (鈥楳odernism and the Scholastic Revival鈥�). You can access both texts through our .
This session will be chaired by
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