In Search of Harmony

"Two of Jacques Maritain's enduring classics are Existence and the Existent and The Person and the Common Good. In the first he explores the key themes of his constructive Thomism while engaging broad currents of existentialist thought. In the second he proposes a personalist- communitarian vision that illuminates the common good. Maritain's paired concerns of metaphysics and politics, and their often-surprising connections, set the stage for this new volume. In Search of Harmony: Metaphysics and Politics is comprised of original essays by twenty scholars. Some contributors are well-established, while others bring fresh voices to the perennial philosophy. The authors trace the metaphysical commitments of political thought and highlight the political implications of metaphysical perspectives. Of special note are the essays that examine the roots of our political predicaments and how we might heal our cultural confusions. Still other essays examine the sources of conscience in the context of a secular liberal polity that seems unable to recognize them. Drawing these essays together is the tradition of the American Maritain Association and its signature commitment to the work of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain and of other Thomists who clarify our "interesting times" and challenge the established disorder"--