Jacques Maritain gave the annual Aquinas Lecture at Marquette University

Born in Paris on November 18, 1882, Maritain received his early education at the Lycee Henri IV and his university education at the Sorbonne, where he earned a doctorate in philosophy and the agrege de l’universite. He also spent two years (1907-1908) studying biology at the University of Heidelberg.

This article is merely a description of the Lecture which is available here. The video features Quentin, the LLM trained on all my content reacting to the lecture within the context of our research.

The lecture by Jacques Maritain is titled “Saint Thomas and the Problem of Evil”. It was delivered in 1942 under the auspices of the Aristotelian Society of Marquette University as the Aquinas Lecture for that year.

Maritain, the author of the lecture, indicates from the outset that he does not intend to review everything St. Thomas Aquinas had to say on the problem of evil. Instead, he chooses to emphasize two points he considers particularly important, while keeping in mind the main characteristics of Thomistic teaching on evil.

The first point Maritain emphasizes is the meaning of the existence of evil in the world. He explains the Thomistic position, which appropriates the tradition of St. Augustine, that evil is neither an essence nor a nature, but an absence or privation of good, not a mere negation. Evil is described as existing in things, with the good thing being the bearer of evil. Evil works through good, as it has no causality of its own, and its power is derived from the good it affects. Maritain notes that moral evil, which is a fault affecting free will, is a greater evil than suffering. He connects the existence of evil to the perfection of the universe, which requires inequality and the existence of beings that can fall from goodness. He distinguishes between the universe considered as a work of creative art (nature) and the universe of freedom (moral and spiritual relations of persons with God). While fallibility and suffering might be seen as normal from the perspective of nature, from the perspective of the person (who is a “whole,” not just a “part”), the existence of evil is an incongruity and an anomaly. He argues that God permitted evil, not for the greater perfection of the “machine of the world,” but for the consummation of a work of love that transcends the world order, linking sin and suffering to the manifestation of divine goodness and the universe of grace. Maritain states that the creature’s liability to sin is the price paid for the outpouring of creative Goodness, requiring free creatures who must necessarily be fallibly free in the natural order. He concludes this point by stating that sin, or evil, is the price of glory.

The second point of emphasis in the lecture is the cause of evil where free will is concerned, specifically moral evil. Maritain applies the general principle that evil of action arises from a defect in the agent’s being or powers. However, in the case of free will, this defect must be voluntary and free, yet not already an evil. He presents St. Thomas’s solution from de Malo, which identifies this preceding defect as a “non-consideration” or absence of paying attention to the rule of reason and divine law before the faulty act of choice. This “lack” is described as a pure and simple negation, not a privation or evil in itself, as the soul is not obligated to constantly consider the rule. The moral evil, the fault, consists in the will proceeding to act without this concurrent consideration of the rule. Maritain highlights the subtle point that the non-consideration ontologically precedes the sin and is introduced by the free initiative of the created will, an initiative of not acting or not considering the rule, which is the “root proper of evil action”. He uses paradoxical language, suggesting the will “nihilates” or “noughts,” introducing nothingness . He clarifies that the creature alone can do this “nothingness” or non-being without God, contrasting it with good actions which always require God’s cooperation . The first cause of our failure to receive grace comes from us . God is in no way the cause of moral evil . Man can render sufficient grace sterile by himself, and while he cannot merit by himself, he can demerit by himself . Maritain relates these ideas to the eternal divine plan and permission.

Maritain concludes the lecture by suggesting that the problem of evil is a mystery rather than merely a problem, and that future philosophers grappling with evil will find basic principles in Thomas Aquinas.

People born 9 months after

Maritain’s Lecture on

The Problem of Evil