About eighty-five years ago, philosophers and literary intellectuals as diverse as Edmund Husserl, George Santayana, and Paul ValZry, aware of the declining influence of Christianity, spoke of 'the crisis of Western civilization.' In Wretched Aristotle: Using the Past to Rescue the Future, Jude P. Dougherty offers an intriguing reexamination of this crisis in contemporary times. Situating his argument in the context of ongoing debate concerning the nature of the public philosophy that underpins ideas of freedom, Dougherty identifies the essential features of Western culture through a series of interrelated essays. Each essay reinforces the idea that modernity cannot be understood apart from its break with classical antiquity. Wretched Aristotle offers a refreshing historical approach to this issue that will make it appealing to those interested in the mutual influence of science and culture and the role of religion in culture.

About eighty-five years ago, philosophers and literary intellectuals as diverse as Edmund Husserl, George Santayana, and Paul Valery, aware of the declining influence of Christianity, spoke of "the crisis of Western civilization." In Wretched Aristotle: Using the Past to Rescue the Future, Jude P. Dougherty offers an intriguing reexamination of this crisis in contemporary times. Situating his argument in the context of ongoing debate concerning the nature of the public philosophy that underpins ideas of freedom, Dougherty identifies the essential features of Western culture through a series of interrelated essays. Each essay reinforces the idea that modernity cannot be understood apart from its break with classical antiquity. Wretched Aristotle offers a refreshing historical approach to this issue that will make it appealing to those interested in the mutual influence of science and culture and the role of religion in culture."

Catholic University Of America, Philosophical Series, No 197, Abstract No. 47.

Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, was a preeminent interpreter of the thought of Thomas Aquinas and author of more than fifty books in metaphysics, the philosophy of science, aesthetics, and social and political philosophy. A giant in his field, he combined his Catholic faith and wide-ranging intellect to address contemporary issues and the many facets of the human experience. In Jacques Maritain: An Intellectual Profile, Jude P. Dougherty shares his lifetime interest in and study of Maritain with readers. He offers the most complete introduction to Maritain yet to be published, highlighting Maritain's many contributions to philosophy. Throughout, the reader gains a clear sense of Maritain the man, his relationships with other notable figures of his time, and his engagement in many of the debates of the twentieth century. Dougherty's essays offer an appreciation of the perennial value of Maritain's intellect. He follows Maritain's philosophical journey from his early critique on the metaphysics of Henri Bergson to the publication of L'Eglise du Christ in 1973. Accessible to readers new to Maritain's work and to the Thomistic tradition, the book will be welcomed by seasoned scholars as well.

An examination of the nature of religion from a philosophical perspective. In successive chapters classical, mediaeval and modern authors are canvassed for their views. Even among those who find no evidence for the existence of God, we encounter discussions of the nature of religion and its function in society. This study begins in antiquity with Socrates, Plato, Cicero and Seneca. It then moves through Augustine to the Middle Ages as represented by Averroes and Aquinas. By so proceeding, the author offers the reader insight into the nature and logic of religion as conceived before and after the advent of Christianity. Subsequent investigation leads to a consideration of the work of David Hume, Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel, in whose philosophies we find not only an account of the logic of religion but an appreciation of its implications in the practical order, and of Sigmund Freud's negative assessment of religion in ""The Future of an Illusion"". Although the focus of this study is primarily Western religion, attention is also paid to selected oriental modes of thought, some properly called ""religion"" in the Western sense, others more akin to philosophy than religion. Throughout history the cultural implications of religion are apparent. In this work, readers should find philosophical observations on the nature of belief, worship, ritual, sacrifice, doctrine, theology and community.

As we enter a new millennium, calls for the renewal of America abound. There is a widespread belief that something is amiss, that the nation is in a period of moral and cultural decline. We still speak of Western civilization, and it remains a reality even though its spiritual foundation has been under siege within Western intellectual circles for more than two centuries. In Western Creed, Western Identity, Jude P. Dougherty investigates the classical roots of Western culture and its religious sources in an effort to define its underlying intellectual and spiritual commitments. The essays were written from a single vantage point, one that has come to be identified with Thomas Aquinas, although the natural law outlook they represent is older than Aquinas. While they are the reflections of a spectator formed in the Catholic tradition, they are not theological in character. They are meant to be observations and judgments that can be appreciated by readers who may not identify with that tradition. The first part of the volume examines the role of religion in society. Dougherty considers the views of Karl Marx and John Dewey, contrasting them with those of Jacques Maritain and John Courtney Murray. The second part of the book examines the nature of the law and the relation between civil law and natural law. Contemporary legal issues bearing upon the assignment of responsibility are addressed in an essay on collective responsibility and in another on the assignment of blame within the context of tort law. Responsibility and punishment are examined within the same framework. The final section brings together a number of essays on the relation of faith and reason. One essay follows the intellectual journey of Edith Stein, another the thought of Jacques Maritain from the beginning of his career to his final works. John Paul II's Fides et Ratio as a defense of reason and the reasonableness of faith is also discussed. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jude P. Dougherty, dean emeritus of the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, is editor of the Review of Metaphysics and general editor of the Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy series published by CUA Press. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "Exceptionally well written. . . . Students of American thought, whether from the general public or the academy, will find the book of interest. Dougherty shows again and again how and where a disciplined metaphysics can provide new and useful perspectives on important legal and social issues. This is not a book of advocacy. It is instead a clear, consistent statement of the continuing relevance of a powerful theological tradition."--Perspectives on Political Science "These essays serve as timely reminders of the virtue or order, of the rule of law, of moral responsibility in life and work, of the function of religion in society, and of the beneficences that accrue when the contemplative way is not excluded from a viable place within the active life."--Modern Age "Dougherty brings together formidable erudition and wisdom in a convincing affirmation of the credal basis of the culture of the West."--First Things "What one is struck by in reading Dougherty is the firm way in which he places himself in the context when he writes. Thus the essays are written with a lively sense of the times. . . ."--From the Foreword by Prof. Ralph McInerny "Dougherty demonstrates that neglect of the Western creed has caused the erosion of American legal institutions and a host of negative social consequences. . . . His work is unique and original in combining natural law, Catholic social thought, and contemporary jurisprudence. It will appeal to those interested in philosophy, the Catholic intellectual tradition, Catholic social thought, natural law, and legal and political phi

How we became what we are. There are many explanations. One plausible account is found in the work of Rudolph Allers who writes about the European intellectual landscape from 1850 to the opening decades of the twentieth century...Allers is not alone in recognizing that a true account of human nature may await the recovery of classical antiquity. From Plato and Aristotle, modernity may learn that the immaterial or spiritual component of human nature is not empirically discerned but reasoned to from empirical evidence. - from the translation by Jude Dougherty

The "mainstream" as the term is employed here finds it headwaters in antiquity, if not in the pre-Socratics, certainly in Plato and Aristotle. Through the centuries, that philosophy has been utilized and developed by the Stoics, the Neo-Platonists, the Scholastics, the Arabs, and by the Early Moderns. Dougherty approaches his topics from the perspective of the mainstream, specifically from the vantage point represented in contemporary discourse by the realism of Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas. In commenting on contemporary social and political issues, Dougherty provides a critique of the humbug that often passes as philosophy. Much of what is published as philosophy, he claims, has little to do with the pursuit of wisdom, and much is written without any knowledge of the history of philosophy - for example, a professor of moral philosophy, by his own admission, lecturing without any knowledge of the Stoics, and another professor at a prominent university, in a nationally televised series of lectures devoted to the history of philosophy, jumping from Plato to Descartes with nothing in between. Dougherty argues that the ancients, no less intelligent or observant than we, have much to say to us about nature, human nature, and the polity. It is from the vantage point of what he takes to be perennial philosophy that Dougherty discusses topics such as "The Acquisition and Use of Power," "Property as a Condition of Liberty," "Tolerance." "Responsibility," and "The Nature of Scientific Explanation." Briefly Considered is divided into three parts. Part One presents a series of essays on contemporary social and political issues. Part Two surveys some recent works in the history and philosophy of science, and Part Three provides an introduction to Islamic scholarship that will aid those seeking an understanding of the origins and history of that movement.