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Maritain was born in Paris, the son of Paul Maritain who was a lawyer and his wife Geneviève Favre, the daughter of Jules Favre and was reared in a liberal Protestant milieu. He was sent to the school, Lycée Henri IV. Later, he attended the Sorbonne, studying the natural sciences; chemistry, biology and physics. Falling under the spell of his teachers, he was convinced that only science alone could solve the problems of humanity.
At the Sorbonne, he met Raïssa Oumansoff a Russian Jewish émigré. They married in l904. Furthermore, she was his intellectual partner who participated with his search for truthThis article is primarily concerned with truth as it is used in the evaluation of assertions. For example, The world is a sphere" is true''. When used in this way, it is properly contrasted with false''. Truth is a concept of primary importance to philoso.
Soon, he became disenchanted with scientismThe term scientism is a relatively newly coined word that refers to certain epistemologies based on science. The word has several different meanings: Scientism usually means the acceptance of scientific theory and scientific methods as applicable in all f at the Sorbonne for it could not address the larger existential issues of life. At the urging of Charles Peguy, Jacques and Raïssa attended the lectures of Henri BergsonHenri-Louis Bergson ( October 18, 1859 January 4, 1941) was a French philosopher, influential in France, but out of the main currents of his time. Life and work Bergson's life was the quiet and uneventful one of a French professor, the chief landmarks in at the Collège de France. Along with his deconstructionism of scientism, Bergson liberated in them “the sense of the absolute”. Then, through and under the influence of Léon Bloy, they converted to the Roman Catholic faith in l906.
The Maritains then moved to Heidelberg in the fall of l907, where Jacques studied biology under Hans Driesch. Hans Driesch’s theory of neo-vitalism attracted Jacques because of its affinity with Henri Bergson. During this time, a fortunate accident took place. Raïssa fell ill and during her convalescence, their spiritual advisor , a Dominican friar named Fr. Humbert Clérissac, introduced her to the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. So enthused, she, in turn, exhorted her husband to examine the saint’s writings. In Thomas, he found a number of insights and ideas that he had believed all along, a common sense perspective that relied on the authority of reason and experience and he wrote:
From the Angelic Doctor (the nickname of St. Aquinas), he was led to “The Philosopher” as St. Thomas christened him, AristotleAristotle ( Greek Αριστοτλης Aristotelēs) ( 384 BCE March 7, 322 BCE) was a Greek scientist and philosopher. Along with Plato, he is often considered to be one of the two most influential philo. Still later to further his intellectual development, he read the neo-scholastics.
Beginning in l912, Maritain taught at the Collège Stanislas and later moved to the Institut Catholique de Paris . For the l916-1917 academic year, he taught at the Petit Séminaire de Versailles . In l933, he gave his first lectures in North America in Toronto at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies . He also taught at Columbia UniversityColumbia University officially known as Columbia University in the City of New York is a private institution of higher education. It is one of the world's foremost research universities and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 under a royal charter; at the Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago; at the University of Notre Dame, and at Princeton University.
From l945 to l948, he was the French ambassador to the Vatican. Afterwards, he returned to Princeton University where he achieved the “Elysian status” (as he puts it) as a professor emeritus in l956.
From l961, Maritain lived with the Little Brothers of Jesus in Toulouse, France. He long had an influence in the order since its foundation in l933 and eventually became a Little Brother in l970.