0579782 - FLÚ 2024 RIV PL eng J - Journal Article
Drozenová, Wendy
Ethical foundations of Jacques Maritain’s and Michael Novak’s conception of human rights.
Ethics & Bioethics (in Central Europe). Roč. 13, 3/4 (2023), s. 127-137. ISSN 1338-5615. E-ISSN 2453-7829
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : Michael Novak * Jacques Maritain * human rights * Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis humanae * natural law * democratic capitalism
OECD category: Ethics (except ethics related to specific subfields)
Impact factor: 0.7, year: 2023
Method of publishing: Open access
Result website:
https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2023-0013DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2023-0013

The aim of the contribution is to outline the ethical foundations in Maritain’s and Novak’s interpretation of human rights in a wider historical context and to assess its meaning for the present, with special regard to our Central European area. The issue of human rights has, in addition to its political aspect, an inherent ethical one. Fundamental human rights relate to the possibility of autonomy of a person as a moral being endowed with reason and striving for a meaningful life. Therefore, these rights have a fundamental role in practical life: however, they have also become an issue of speculative philosophy and theology, where the focus is upon concepts of freedom and reason. Jacques Maritain and Michael Novak were important figures in the advancement of human rights at the international level, with exceptional impacts especially in Central Europe. Both have their roots in Christian humanism, and for both their concept of human relations is derived from Biblical religion and love for one’s neighbour. Novak accepts Maritain’s concepts of a person and human dignity, and he tries to explain his own concept of democratic capitalism in accordance with it.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0348633