Western Creed, Western Identity: Essays in Legal and Social Philosophy

Introduction

Introduction The essays that constitute this volume were written in response to specific invitations, usually invitations to lecture on a topic of contemporary concern. They were written from a single vantage point, one that has come to be identified with Saint Thomas Aquinas, although the natural law outlook that they represent is older than Aquinas . To put it another way, they were written by someone steeped in a Catholic intellectual tradition that finds its roots in classical antiquity. Thus they represent not only a philosophical mind but a Catholic mind as well since many of the issues confronted are of particular interest to Catholics. While they are the reflections of a spectator formed in a particular tradition, they are not theological in character. They are meant to be observations and judgments that can be appreciated or perhaps even shared by others who may not identify with that tradition. The essay on Christian philosophy, for example, is designed to distinguish among theology, which has its roots in revelation ; philosophy, which is an independent mode of inquiry; and the sociological fact that Christians, by virtue of their faith, take an interest in certain philosophical issues that their secular colleagues may not. Part I of this volume examines the role of religion in society. It takes its lead from the Spanish-born Harvard University professor George Santayana, who, in , in Winds of Doctrine, written with an American audience in mind, observed: The present age is a critical one and interesting to live in. The civilization charxi xii Introduction acteristic of Christendom has not disappeared, yet another civilization has begun to take its place. We still understand the value of religious faith. On the other hand, the shell of Christendom is broken. The unconquerable mind of the East, the pagan past, the industrial socialists’ future confront it with equal authority. On the whole, life and mind is saturated with the slow upward flirtation of a new spirit—that of an emancipated, atheistic democracy. In the early decades of this century that judgment may have required the perceptiveness of a Santayana. Today Santayana’s assessment is almost universally accepted. Few are blind to the loss of a religious allegiance and its moral and cultural consequences. Although morality and religion are not to be identified with each other, it is evident that religion carries with it a code of values. The question that is raised from several perspectives herein is: From what source may a society receive its moral compass if not from religion? The essay entitled “What Was Religion?” provides a historical perspective that is supplemented by a consideration of the views of Karl Marx and John Dewey, both of whom consider religion to be mistaken in referring things to God rather than to nature. Their materialistic perspective is contrasted with that of Jacques Maritain and John Courtney Murray. The latter addresses the situation as found in the United States as he discusses the relation of church and state in the context of Supreme Court rulings over a forty-year period. Maritain suggests that one of the most valuable services that religion renders society is to focus attention on larger intellectual issues, not to mention the direction of individual wills to communal ends. Like Santayana, he believes that Western democracies are living off the capital of Christianity, and to the extent that its influence is diminished , to that extent those governments are vulnerable. The title essay of this volume addresses this judgment as it attempts to sort out the distinctive features of Western civilization. Part II begins with a consideration of the nature of law and the relation between civil law and natural law. Contemporary legal issues bearing upon the assignment of responsibility or lack of it are addressed in an essay on collective responsibility and in another on the assignment of blame within the context of tort law. Responsibility and punish- Introduction xiii ment are examined within the same framework. The broader issue of moral responsibility, especially professional responsibility, is treated in a separate enquiry. Part III brings together a number of essays on the relation of faith to reason. One essay follows the intellectual journey of Edith Stein, from her days as a pupil of Husserl and a student of phenomenology to her discovery of Aquinas and finally to her death as a Carmelite; another, the thought of Jacques Maritain from the beginning of his career to his final works. John...