Abstract

During the 1930s and 40s democracy faced powerful challenges from various quarters. Rival ideologies challenged the foundations of democratic politics most directly, but even sympathetic observers were critical of democratic governance. Perceiving a crisis in democratic theory, several prominent Christian intellectuals proposed new theoretical support for democracy. Among these, Reinhold Niebuhr and Yves R. Simon deserve renewed attention, for their work marks a critical contribution to democratic theory. Niebuhr and Simon, working from Protestant and Catholic traditions, respectively, drew upon divergent theological orientations that have at times produced opposing accounts of human nature and politics. ;Niebuhr proposed a new defense of democratic politics grounded in a Christian Realist anthropology derived mainly from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and the theological reflection of the Reformers. From Niebuhr's perspective, Catholic thought, by contrast, was incompatible with democracy on theoretical and practical grounds: theoretically, it favored an antidemocratic conception of political authority; practically, it relied on a rigidly deductive and absolutist scheme of natural law ethics that would not accommodate the compromises and contingencies of democratic politics. ;This dissertation demonstrates that the moral and political philosophy of Yves Simon constitutes a powerful rejoinder to Niebuhr's criticisms. First, Simon's natural law ethics, with its emphasis on prudence and knowledge by inclination, defies Niebuhr's characterization and provides an account of practical reasoning compatible with the demands of democratic citizenship. Second, Simon's democratic theory, rooted in the Thomistic tradition, rebuts Niebuhr's contention that Catholic political thought is inherently antidemocratic. Indeed, a close examination of Simon's and Niebuhr's work reveals significant points of convergence in their moral and political philosophy and suggests the possibility of formulating a theological anthropology and political vision that is at once ecumenically Christian and democratic