Writings of Charles de Koninck, Vol 2 PDF
Preview Writings of Charles de Koninck, Vol 2
DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page i The Writings of CHARLES D KONINCK E DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page ii Charles De Koninck,University of Laval,Quebec. DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page iii The Writings of CHARLES D KONINCK E Edited and Translated by Ralph McInerny MN University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page iv Copyright © by University ofNotre Dame Notre Dame,Indiana www.undpress.nd.edu AllRights Reserved Designed by Wendy McMillen Set in ./.Minion by Four Star Books Printed on # Nature’s Book Natural by Thomson-Shore,Inc. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Koninck,Charles de,d.. [Works.English.] The writings ofCharles De Koninck / edited and translated by Ralph McInerny ; with a biography by Thomas De Koninck ;and an introduction by Leslie Armour. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. -:----(cloth :alk.paper) -:---(cloth :alk.paper) .Koninck,Charles de,d.. .Science—Philosophy. I.McInerny,Ralph M. II.Title. . '.—dc This book is printed on recycled paper. DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page v Contents Preface vii Ego Sapientia: The Wisdom That Is Mary() The Primacy of the Common Good against the Personalists; The Principle of the New Order() On the Common Good (Review ofThe Primacy of the Common Good,) Yves R.Simon In Defense ofJacques Maritain (Attack on The Primacy of the Common Good,) I.Thomas Eschmann,O.P. In Defence ofSt.Thomas:A Reply to Father Eschmann’s Attack on The Primacy of the Common Good, The Dialectic ofLimits as Critique ofReason () Notes on Marxism () This Is a Hard Saying () Review ofBetween Heaven and Earth() Concept,Process,and Reality () Index DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page vi DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page vii Preface This second volume ofthe Writings of Charles De Koninckbegins with two short works published in ,Ego Sapientia: The Wisdom That Is Mary, and The Primacy ofthe Common Good against the Personalists.The former is De Koninck’s first work in Mariology and is self-effacing in that it is made up in great part ofcitations from the Fathers and the saints on the role ofMary. And there is the pronounced influence ofMarie Grignion de Montfort,then Blessed,since Saint,whose teaching on true devotion to the Blessed Virgin is often invoked.The serenity and edifying character ofthis work provides vivid stylistic contrast with The Primacy. The lengthy preface to the latter work by Cardinal Villeneuve sets the tone for what follows.What follows is not a single work,but two essays,that on the primacy ofthe common good and another called “The Principle of the New Order.”They are ofcourse related:the second might be said to put historical clothing on the argument ofthe first,somewhat as Kierkegaard’s Postscriptpays offin historical coin on the argument ofthe Philosophical Fragments.The personalism criticized in the Primacyis shown to have been exemplified in the history ofwestern thought,beginning with Renaissance Humanism and culminating—that is,reaching its nadir—in Marxism and Fascism. The Primacy ofthe Common Goodstirred up a surprising reaction,some- thing manifest in the reviews of it by Yves Simon and Father Eschmann. While praising the book,Simon has a number ofcritical things to say.Among them is the danger that the Personalists attacked might be thought to in- clude in their number Jacques Maritain.Any such assumption,he says,would be libelous.That is,Simon holds that the positive doctrine ofDe Koninck’s little treatise is not at odds with that ofMaritain and that Maritain would share his criticisms ofthe “personalists.”Father Eschmann,on the other hand,rejects what De Koninck has to say of the primacy of the common good and takes the position he is attacking to be that ofJacques Maritain. vii DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page viii viii | Preface His essay is called “In Defense ofJacques Maritain,”but it is characterized by the almost total absence ofMaritain.Very far along in the essay,Father Eschmann finally turns to Maritain,but only to give the reader his own brief paraphrase ofwhat he takes Martain’s personalism to be.Maritain is almost as absent from this defense as he is from De Koninck’s little book.1 It seemed well to include in this volume both Simon’s and Eschmann’s reviews.Without Eschmann’s review before him,no reader ofDe Koninck’s response,In Defence of St.Thomas,could possibly understand the length and tone ofthe work.That there were personal undercurrents at work,that relations between Eschmann and Cardinal Villeneuve were thought to mo- tivate the Dominican’s attempted put-down ofDe Koninck,is true enough. De Koninck certainly rose in defense ofthe man who had written the pref- ace to his book and notes that Eschmann attributes to De Koninck himself (laudatory) things the cardinal had said ofhim in his preface.No more need be known in order to appreciate the two defenses,one allegedly ofMaritain, the other of St.Thomas.What galvanized De Koninck was the suggestion that he had misrepresented the thought ofThomas Aquinas.Since he felt that it was Eschmann who misrepresented that thought,a long and detailed refu- tation was called for.Many ofthe lacunae Simon noted in the Primacyare filled in by the lengthy Defence. Ralph McInerny,Notre Dame The originals ofthe texts included in this volume are: . Ego Sapientia ...La Sagesse qui est Marie,Laval-Fides,,pp. . De la primauté du bien commun contre les personnalistes; le principe de l’ordre nouveau.Quebec,,xxiii–pp. . Yves Simon,“On the Common Good.”Review ofin The Review of Politics,no.():‒‒. . I.Thomas Eschmann,“In Defense ofJacques Maritain,”The Modern Schoolman ,no.(May ):‒‒. . “In Defence ofSaint Thomas:A Reply to Father Eschmann’s Attack on the Primacy ofthe Common Good,”Laval théologique et philoso- phique,no.():‒‒. DeKoninck-000.FM 5/13/09 3:58 PM Page ix Preface | ix . “La dialectique des limites comme critique de la raison,”Laval thé- ologique et philosophique,no.():‒‒ . “Notes sur le marxisme,”Laval théologique et philosophique ,no. ():‒‒. . “Cette parole est dure,”Revue Dominicaine,no.():‒‒. . “Between Heaven and Earth,”Laval théologique et philosophique, no.():‒‒. . “Concept,Process,and Reality,”Laval théologique et philosophique, no.():‒‒. . In The Person and the Common Good,Maritain alludes to Eschmann’s review and thanks him for it.He does not mention the review by Simon.One cannot con- clude from this that Maritain accepts Eschmann’s identification ofhis position with that attacked in The Primacy.For all that,it is a mystifying footnote.
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