Jacques Maritain and Alasdair MacIntyre on Human Rights
This dissertation is an examination of the two divergent positions on human rights taken by prominent Catholic and Thomist philosophers Jacques Maritain and Alasdair MacIntyre. Maritain and MacIntyre, although having traveled similar paths, which included atheism, Marxism, anti-liberalism, seemingly have diametrically opposed position on the use of human rights. Maritain's work, including engagement with the drafting of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights (1948), redefined human rights as an extension of the natural law tradition rooted in the work of Thomas Aquinas. Maritain's unique definition of rights included such notions as personalism, the common good, justice and had a basis in classical metaphysics. MacIntyre, on the other hand, rejects human rights because of their liberal provenance, maintaining that rights language is a necessary band-aid to motivate individuals to help those less fortunate in society where community, the common good and family have been significantly weakened because of liberalism. Starting with John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council up through Benedict XVI, Maritain's articulation of rights influenced several popes. It has become the stock language of the Catholic Church, despite centuries of pontiffs rebuking liberalism and rights language. With the understanding that rights can in fact be viewed as an extension of the natural law, rights language is now the preferred mode of speaking within the Church about the common good and human dignity. Delving deeper into the notion of tradition constituted rationality, MacIntyre sees the importance of being a part of a tradition for practical rationality. Having allied himself to Catholicism and the tradition of Thomistic Aristotelianism, MacIntyre emphasizes the importance of operating within the tradition, despite whatever deficiencies it may have. As a result, he abandons his own criticisms of human rights, as evidenced in two advanced stages of his career: 1) one of relative silence on the subject, engaging the word choice instead of rights; and 2) coming around to a position where he recognizes that rights do in fact exist, but need to be couched within an understanding of the common good, justice, and generosity - elements that mimic Maritain's own articulation and that of the Catholic Church.
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