Akademik

(1882–1973)

French Thomist philosopher, most influential during his teaching years at the Institut Catholique in Paris, from 1914. Initially a Protestant, Maritain was educated at the Sorbonne. He and his wife converted to Catholicism in 1906, partly under the influence of Bergson . From 1945 to 1948 Maritain was French ambassador to the Vatican. His work sought to sustain an Aristotelian and Thomistic ‘realism’ against the subjectivism of philosophy since Descartes . This involved recognizing multiple ways of knowing, and Maritain is also remembered for his work on non-conceptual knowledge, as occurring in moments of mysticism and of poetic intuition. His many works include Distinguer pour unir (1932, trs. as The Degrees of Knowledge, 1959), and Humanisme intégral (1936, trs. as True Humanism, 1938).