What is “beauty” and what does it mean for something to be called “beautiful” according to Jacques Maritain? To answer this question, one must examine Maritain’s reflections on the topic, which he developed over more than thirty years across his works. It is important to remember that Maritain’s approach is foremost an epistemological and metaphysical reflection — rather than merely aesthetic or sociological. To really understand Maritain’s thought, one must consider its deep roots in the philosophy of his guiding teacher: Saint Thomas Aquinas.

In this essay I will briefly introduce the development of Pope John Paul II’s understanding of Christian personalism, after which I will study the encyclical Laborem Excercens more closely, which introduces a significant social perspective of this philosophy. But first, in part by way of introduction I will provide the more general historical context that accompanied its publication, in part prompting a focused social perspective. The community, at its social and economic levels, among others, plays an essential role in who we are as persons and how we understand ourselves and the world. As Jonathan Sacks puts it, “Community plays an important role in the way our lives unfold, and is the living face of a shared moral order.”[1] And his own national community with its rich and dramatic history certainly had a substantial impact on John Paul II and his thought, not to mention his perception of work and the worker, crucial for the encyclical. I should add that where necessary I will also refer to Karol Wojtyła, for instance in the initial development of the Pope’s philosophical ideas before he was elected to the papacy in 1978.