Post-Classical Philosophy

Neotomism

The unshakeable foundation of the Christian worldview has been and remains faith. However, beginning in the mid-19th century, the Catholic Church increasingly recognized that the natural light of reason is the most significant means of knowing God through His creation, and consequently, the need for the development of Christian philosophical doctrine. Religious thinkers embarked on a vigorous exploration of the philosophical heritage of Thomas Aquinas and, more broadly, scholastic philosophy (Matteo Liberatore, Joseph Kleutgen). In 1850, the Jesuit journal "Catholic Civilization," dedicated to philosophical issues and still in existence today, was established. In 1879, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Aeterni Patris, which initiated the veneration of Aquinas as the official philosopher of the Catholic Church. Soon after, the Higher Institute of Philosophy was founded at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), along with the Dominican School of Theology in Solesmes, Paris, which housed a vast library of philosophical and theological sciences. Thus, the institutional and ideological formation of Neotomism took place—a contemporary version of Thomistic philosophy and the principal current of neo-scholastic philosophy.

The shared principles and tenets that thinkers of this movement embraced, from which they developed their philosophical teachings, include: 1) Pragmatism, irrationalism, and modernism, which dominated European intellectual life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, proved incapable of providing a foundation for an adequate understanding of the existential problems faced by contemporary humanity and were significantly responsible for the crisis of fundamental values in Christian ethics; 2) The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas serves as the core of Catholic doctrinal corpus, holding enduring significance and being an indispensable tool for comprehending humanity and its relationship with God; 3) The study of metaphysics along the lines originating from Aquinas's work is the cornerstone of Christian life and the harmonization of humanity's relationships with the world and with itself.

Although Neotomism emerged within the Catholic Church, its prevalence and the authority of its ideas are attributable to the efforts of two French lay philosophers—Étienne Gilson (1884—1978) and Jacques Maritain (1882—1973).

Gilson was a distinguished historian of philosophy, gaining recognition through his dissertation on the scholastic foundations of René Descartes' philosophy. He subsequently wrote a number of works concerning the Christian principles of thought articulated by Augustine, Bonaventure, and Aquinas, effectively bringing medieval philosophy into the purview of contemporary philosophy historians.

Jacques Maritain emerged as the leading theoretician of Neotomism. Coming from a family of agnostics, he was captivated by the philosophy of Henri Bergson in his youth. In 1906, Maritain, along with his wife, Raisa Umantseva, converted to Catholicism. Following the counsel of his wife’s confessor, he turned to the study of Thomas’s works and soon became a staunch advocate of his teachings. In his first book, The Philosophy of Bergsonism, Maritain critiqued Bergson's doctrine from Thomistic perspectives.

In contrast to Bergson, Maritain asserted that the intellectual intuition of Being places us in direct connection with the fundamental structures of reality, which thereby reveal themselves to consciousness and thought. He argued that the most comprehensive and multifaceted structures are elucidated in Aquinas's metaphysics, particularly in his doctrine of act and potency, wherein reality comprises a multitude of finite substances created and sustained by the infinite substance of God. Each finite substance is contingent (i.e., it may either exist or not exist), as a distinction exists between its essence (essentia) as the potential to be what it is, and its existence (existentia)—the act of being in which this potential is realized. In contrast, in God, essence and existence coincide; His nature is Being itself. Divine reality thus emerges as existing necessarily, a pure act encompassing the embodiment of all possible perfections.

Building on these ideas, Maritain, in his later works, substantiated significant theoretical and epistemological conclusions concerning the nature and limits of human reason. From the noted distinction between being, essence, and existence arises the freedom of becoming, realized such that the divine effort by which a thing comes to be simultaneously manifests as the effort and striving of the thing itself toward existence. Thus, a thing reveals itself as a subject known by God from within, whereas the human intellect can only grasp it from the outside, as an object.

Nevertheless, reason is capable of knowing the world—accurately and quite deeply—through its own creative nature. We come to know a thing because we create it, and we understand it to the extent that we are capable of doing so. This circumstance is related to the limitations of the cognitive aspirations of reason and the necessity of balancing them with faith.

Thus, the most profound manifestation lies in self-knowledge, as our subjectivity is disclosed to us within ourselves. It is here that we partake in the divine foundation of Being. In human self-knowledge lies the understandable peril founded on the illusion that our existence is the center of the universe, along with the omnipotence of reason. It is precisely this that led the philosophy of the Modern Age, particularly Cartesian anthropocentrism, to a loss of the value foundation of medieval culture and to moral relativism.

Religion serves as a necessary means of curbing the ambitions and "curing" the illusions of the Mind. The primary assertion and fundamental achievement of Christianity is the affirmation that love is worth more than knowledge and intellect. Christianity expresses a yearning for a freedom that transcends the mere mastery of the world, as well as for the higher purpose of humanity. The embodiment of this aspiration lies in what unites individuals into a cohesive society—labor, service to others, and the creation of cultural values.

The harmony of faith and knowledge represents a central issue in philosophy. Philosophy is oriented towards truth; however, unlike the abstract sciences, it does not possess utilitarian value. The philosopher's role is to remind humanity of truth and freedom. The critical function of philosophy is also essential, for the thinker remains unbound by the ties and obligations that ensnare the average person. Whereas in science one theory displaces another, as J. Maritain asserts, philosophy is characterized by an endless development that leads to an increasingly profound approach to truth.

1. Maritain's vision of the social ideal finds expression in the concept of integral humanism. The humanistic orientation, which the Catholic Church has historically regarded with skepticism, must be integrated into Christian teaching. This is because the foremost aspiration of humanism is the enhancement of humanity for humanity, the fostering of its potential and creative capacities, and the mastery of the world as a means of achieving freedom. Nevertheless, humanism must undergo transformation; its essential component should include not only a focus on material values but also on spiritual and moral values, which Christianity principally defends and carries. Integral humanism ought to unite the recognition of the value of the individual and their freedom with an understanding of the societal significance of humanity, as embodied in spiritual culture.

The significant role played by Maritain’s rationale for liberal democracy in the development of Christian democratic movements in Europe following World War II rests on the distinction between nature and personhood as proposed by Thomas. As a distinct and partial embodiment of human essence, each individual is obliged to adhere to social prescriptions that lead to the common good. Simultaneously, each person is a unique individual created in the image and likeness of God, maintaining a direct communion with Him. Therefore, they possess inherent rights that society cannot infringe upon, regardless of any motives for the common good. As human self-awareness steadily rises, traditional forms of authoritarian state governance lose their moral legitimacy, while the existence of representative democracy becomes increasingly justified.

Prominent thinkers of the neo-Thomist direction, alongside E. Gilson and J. Maritain, included J.-E. Nicol (France), E. Coret, I. Messner (Austria), A. Dempf, M. Müller, I. Piper, K. Rahner (Germany), A. Dondaine, J. Ladrière (Belgium), K. Wojtyła (John Paul II), M. Krompec (Poland), B. Mondin, K. Fabro (Italy), and others.

The range of issues and topics explored in contemporary neo-Thomism is characterized by a new, relatively distinct understanding of the subject of metaphysics compared to classical scholasticism—the latter being pure (infinite, transcendent, and ineffable) Being. The quest for theoretical means to bridge the divide between the world and the absolute leads, among other things, to the development of the concept of Being as the fullness of perfections, within which transcendental notions (unity, truth, goodness, beauty) are viewed as lacking empirical content, instead arising from Divine self-revelation, and their comprehension directs us towards the understanding of the essence that caused them. Another mode of legitimizing the absolute as an object of philosophical thought is the analogy of being (analogia entis), based on the thesis that God is qualitatively distinct from the created world, yet an external proportionality and correspondence underlies the relationship between them.

The question of the essence of Being also delineates the boundaries of scientific knowledge, shaping neo-Thomism's stance towards science. The latter proves capable only of grasping "secondary causes," while "ultimate causes" belong to the supernatural order and are the realm of philosophy. Thus, truth emerges not as a correspondence of thought to an external material object but to the divine intellect, bearing no relation to a material impression or copy.

At the heart of neo-Thomism's exploration of social issues lies a personalist anthropology, through which the individual is regarded as a self-acting spiritual substance. The attributes of this substance include freedom, self-awareness, and the capacity to express itself through spiritual creativity, grounded in the relationship and connection between humanity and God, which one realizes as a participant in the Christian religious community.