Abstract

According to Jacques Maritain, the purpose of democracy is to carry out the policy of “great human hopes”, and its true value is based on the common good. A social organization of both communitarian and personalist inspiration should provide justice and consummate the highest ideal of freedom understood in a fraternal light. Although the foundation of these characteristics on the natural law has suffered criticism for its metaphysical nature, it can be argued that there is an analogy between the Maritainist practical principle of the universal recognition of human rights and the practical principles of the political philosophy. As the recognition of human rights is the result of a practical agreement among authors of different theoretical traditions, so the general principles of democracy can be known and recognized through human practice, especially through the exercise of democracy. We stand for such analogy in order to renew the relations between the speculative and practice foundations of democratic principles, inspired by Maritain’s political philosophy. The criticism of Maritain by John Finnis is part of this debate, which allows us to discover the actuality of the French philosopher, as well as conduct a review of this aspect of his thought.