Jacques Maritain and the Moral Foundation of Democracy

In this book, John DiJoseph probes the philosophical presuppositions that undergird Jacques Maritain's political theory, particularly his theory that democracy and Christianity are inexorably linked. Maritain's theory of democracy is particularly relevant today with the ascendancy of what Maritain called bourgeois liberal democracy in the United States and Western Europe; a type of democracy that Maritain thought would lead to the eventual demise of Western culture. In opposition to...
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In this book, John DiJoseph probes the philosophical presuppositions that undergird Jacques Maritain's political theory, particularly his theory that democracy and Christianity are inexorably linked. Maritain's theory of democracy is particularly relevant today with the ascendancy of what Maritain called bourgeois liberal democracy in the United States and Western Europe; a type of democracy that Maritain thought would lead to the eventual demise of Western culture. In opposition to the bourgeois liberal democracy, Maritain posited a personalist democracy with a uniquely Christain soul. DiJoseph traces the historical and philosophical development of Maritain's debt to Henri Bergson and Alexis De Tocqueville and Maritain's break with classical Christian and Catholic political thought. The book will not only appeal to scholars of history and political science but also to those concerned with the current debate over the philosophical basis of democracy and the cultural decline of the West.