The Liberation of Intelligence: Jacques Maritain's Pedagogical Proposal

Abstract

In the thought of Jacques Maritain, the liberation of intelligence appears essential for the flourishing of the person, and therefore it is in the context of the person that the question of intelligence and its education must be placed. Among the philosophical paths, the following are privileged here: the path of existential epistemology which is centered on "distinguishing to unite" and on "approaches without borders", and the path of integral anthropology, which is centered on the "possibilities of cooperation in a divided world", and on the "role of the spiritual" in terms of "inspiration, education and culture". These epistemological and anthropological indications provide the basis for identifying two educational paths of liberation of intelligence: the methodological path as education to rigor and pluralism, and the axiological path as education to ideals and dialogue; through them one can exercise a rigorous and courageous intelligence, capable of avoiding the enemies of intelligence such as intellectualism and reductivism through a renewed "liberal", i.e. humanistic, education.