THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Jacques Maritain and Alasdair MacIntyre on Human Rights A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Philosophy Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Carrie Rose Stibora Washington, D.C. 2013 Jacques Maritain and Alasdair MacIntyre on Human Rights Carrie Rose Stibora, Ph.D. Director: V. Bradley Lewis, Ph.D. 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. This dissertation by Carrie Rose Stibora fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Philosophy approved by V. Bradley Lewis, Ph.D., as Director, and by Gregory T. Doolan, Ph.D., and Angela McKay Knobel, Ph.D. as Readers. V. Bradley Lewis, Ph.D., Director Gregory T. Doolan, Ph.D., Reader Angela McKay Knobel, Ph.D., Reader ii For Susan Louise Gress-Andrews and Joseph Allen Stibora, Ph.D. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1 1. WHY RIGHTS NOW...............................................................................................................1 2. WHY MARITAIN AND MACINTYRE?......................................................................................2 3. CONNECTIONS......................................................................................................................4 4. METHOD..............................................................................................................................8 5. LAYOUT OF THE CHAPTERS..................................................................................................9 6. WHICH RIGHTS?.................................................................................................................12 7. POPE LEO XIII'S INFLUENCE...............................................................................................14 CHAPTER ONE: MARITAIN'S PRE-MODERN AND MODERN MÉLANGE..............24 1. MARITAIN PRIOR TO RIGHTS..............................................................................................25 2. MARITAIN'S EMBRACE OF RIGHTS......................................................................................34 3. SEA CHANGE IN ECCLESIASTICAL LANGUAGE.....................................................................43 4. WHO WAS FIRST? PIUS XI OR MARITAIN?..........................................................................52 5. LIBERAL, BUT…................................................................................................................55 6. CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................57 CHAPTER TWO: REDEFINING RIGHTS - THE KEY ELEMENTS..............................59 PART I – CHRISTIAN HUMANISM...........................................................................................60 1. BIG PICTURE OF MARITAIN'S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.........................................................60 2. PERSONALISM....................................................................................................................62 3. THE COMMON GOOD..........................................................................................................74 4. NATURAL LAW..................................................................................................................78 PART II - DEFINITION OF RIGHTS..........................................................................................81 1. IUS.....................................................................................................................................84 2. NATURAL LAW IN THE WORKING DEFINITION.....................................................................86 3. ETERNAL LAW...................................................................................................................91 4. CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................93 CHAPTER THREE: MARITAIN'S CRITICS....................................................................94 1. LIBERAL RIGHTS VS. CATHOLIC THOUGHT..........................................................................94 2. THE CRISIS AND CRITICS OF INTEGRAL HUMANISM...............................................................99 3. THOMAS'S NATURAL LAW................................................................................................112 4. TOO THEOLOGICAL..........................................................................................................120 5. TOO PHILOSOPHICAL?......................................................................................................126 6. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................130 CHAPTER FOUR: MARITAIN AND THE CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING TRADITION.........................................................................................................................131 1. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL AND POPE PAUL VI...............................................................132 2. JOHN PAUL II (1978 - 2005).............................................................................................142 iv 3. BENEDICT XVI (2005 - 2013)..........................................................................................155 4. BEYOND THE PAPACY ......................................................................................................158 5. THE PEASANT'S FALLOUT.................................................................................................160 6. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................165 CHAPTER FIVE: MACINTYRE'S NARRATIVE QUEST..............................................167 1. TRIPARTIONED CAREER....................................................................................................170 2. STAGE I - MARX (1946 - 1971)........................................................................................172 3. INTERLOCKING PIECES FROM MARX.................................................................................181 4. ANTI-LIBERALISM, ANTI-CAPITALISM..............................................................................182 5. HISTORICIZING MAN........................................................................................................187 6. PRACTICE AND THEORY....................................................................................................188 7. STAGE II ARISTOTLE AND AFTER VIRTUE (1971 - 1984).....................................................191 8. VIRTUE AND PRACTICES...................................................................................................196 9. FROM PRACTICES TO NARRATIVE QUEST..........................................................................202 10. LIVING AND DEAD TRADITIONS......................................................................................205 11. STAGE III THOMISM AND TRADITION (1984 - )................................................................207 12. CONVERSION..................................................................................................................209 13. TRADITION AND RATIONALITY.......................................................................................212 14. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................217 CHAPTER SIX: MACINTYRE'S ARGUMENTS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS..........219 1. STAGE I – MARX..............................................................................................................219 2. STAGE II – ARISTOTLE AND AFTER VIRTUE (1971 - 1983)..................................................222 3. STAGE III – THOMISM AND TRADITION (1984 - 2000).......................................................240 4. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................256 CHAPTER SEVEN: MACINTYRE'S CRITICS...............................................................258 1. WITCHES AND UNICORNS.................................................................................................259 2. NO GOOD REASONS TO BELIEVE.......................................................................................263 3. THEOLOGY – TOO MUCH AND NOT ENOUGH ....................................................................265 4. EMOTIONALISM................................................................................................................269 5. UNIVERSAL AXIOMS AND HISTORICAL PARTICULARS........................................................272 6. THOMISM AND UNIVERSALS.............................................................................................276 7. CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT............................................................................................279 8. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................282 CHAPTER EIGHT: MACINTYRE REINVENTED.........................................................284 1. STAGE IV - RELATIVE SILENCE (1999 - 2007)..................................................................284 2. LIBERTY OF CHOICE.........................................................................................................289 3. CHOICE OF RELATIONSHIPS..............................................................................................290 4. STAGE V – RIGHTS TRANSFORMED? (2008 - )..................................................................292 5. WHY THE CHANGE?.........................................................................................................295 6. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................301 v CONCLUSION: FINAL THOUGHTS...............................................................................303 1. MACINTYRE ON MARITAIN...............................................................................................303 2. ROLE OF BIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................306 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................311 vi Jacques Maritain and Alasdair MacIntyre on Human Rights Carrie R. Stibora, Ph.D. (Cand.) Director: V. Bradley Lewis Ph.D. Introduction 1. Why Rights Now Human rights have a virtual monopoly on contemporary political discourse, having emerged as the preferred mode of ethical rhetoric over the past five or six decades. Human rights rhetoric, however, is not without its weaknesses. Contemporary struggles related to human rights concern issues of definition, such as who has human rights? Do rights extend to animals? The environment? And what about when the rights of one individual clash with another, as in the case of abortion? Does the mother's right to abortion trump her child's right to life? And how far do human rights extend? Is there a right to gay marriage? Is there a right to health care? Is there a right to biologically and surgically change one's gender? Do such rights entail taxpayer funding? And on and on and on… Such questions about human rights seem to go as far as one's imagination, without any sort of clear boundary to keep check on the limits of rights. Mary Ann Glendon has complained that the situation is such that political and moral discourse has been impoverished by "the modern inclination to force all controversial issues into a straitjacket of rights talk."1 1 Brian Tierney, The Idea of Natural Rights: Studies on Natural Rights, Natural Law, and Church Law 1150-1625 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), 346. 1 2 Over the centuries, the Catholic Church made its way to embracing rights in an effort to protect the dignity of every human person. After World War II, "the international community began in earnest to adopt lists, charters, and declarations of human rights, but this process was well under way in Catholic thought two decades earlier as a way to reckon with totalitarian regimes."2 While the centrality of rights inside and outside the Church does not seem controversial in today's political climate, this was not always so. Liberalism and Americanism were long considered to be the poor fruit of modernity, which threatened much of the Church's philosophical and theological framework. After initially rejecting liberalism and its fruit of human rights language, more than a modus vivendi, the Church has come to identify much of Catholic social teaching with human rights promotion.3 2. Why Maritain and MacIntyre? Two Catholic converts and philosophers, Jacques Maritain (1882 - 1973) and Alasdair MacIntyre (1929 - ), in their respective works offer insights into the both the old and new intellectual traditions in relation to Catholic social thought on rights. Moreover, they, each in his unique way, bring forth much to the discussion about rights. Mary Ann Glendon, Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse (New York: The Free Press, 1991). 2 Russell Hittinger, "Introduction to Modern Catholicism," in The Teachings of Modern Roman Catholicism on Law, Politics and Human Nature, eds. John Witte Jr. and Frank S. Alexander, 1-38 (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 18. 3 For a through discussion of the Church's transition from anti-liberal to liberal, see Emile Perreau-Saussine, Catholicism and Democracy: An Essay in the History of Political Thought, trans. Richard Rex (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).