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Alyosha, only I most respectfully return Him the ticket." Neither
the sophism of Kirillov nor the sophism of Karamazov has any
place in a discussion of the arguments for God's existence.
The
problem of evil does not exist for naturalists. Nor for
those Marxists who are genuine naturalists and not believers
in
a
benevolent Natur·Dialectik. When M. Maritain reproaches Marx·
ism for its atheism, he therefore shifts to another alleged conse·
quence of disbelief in the existence of God, viz., its atheistic con·
ception of man and human nature.
The "atheistic" conception of man is regarded as profoundly
inhuman because it views him as a natural and social creature but
not as a personal one. It sacrifices man to "the monism of collec·
tive life" which bestows prosperity upon him only after it has
deprived him of essential dignity'. Marxist humanism, according
to M. Maritain, operates with a philosophy of the human being as
tropistically determined by constant biological needs and varying
historical ones. From that philosophy we can never derive the
sense of human self.respect and human freedom which are central
to Catholic integral humanism.
M. Maritain will probably be surprised to learn that it is in
the name of that very human dignity and independence, which
he
treats as spiritual abstractions, that Marx rejects not only liberal
capitalism but Catholicism. M. Maritain has had his forerunners
-the great Lamennais who towers above him as well as a whole
flock of petty German consistorial councillors who lack his
subtlety. On one of the occasions when the latter urged the work·
ing classes to unite with Church and Throne against the liberal
bourgeoisie, Marx reviewed briefly those "social principles of
Christianity" which had taken eighteen centuries to develop.
"The social principles of Christianity justified the
slavery of classical days; they glorified mediavel serfdom;
and, when necessary, understand how to defend the oppres–
sion of the proletariat. The social principles of Chris–
tianity proclaim the necessity for the existence of a ruling
class and an oppressed class, and remain content with the
pious wish that the former will deal charitably with the
latter. The social principles of Christianity assume that
there will be a consistorial compensation in heaven for all
