The Concept of Natural Law in the Works of Jacques Maritain and Its Connection with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The study examines the thought of prominent French philosopher of 20th century Jacques Maritain, whose legacy remains actual nowadays. Most of his philosophical work took place in the first half of 20th century and was inspired by the World Wars, the struggle of Catholic Church against secular intellectual movements and the increasing attention to the human rights. Maritain`s thought covered a large amount of the issues in the field of moral philosophy, political philosophy and even metaphysics. The French philosopher was the consistent follower of the ideas of the most famous medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas and called in the historiography as Neo-Thomist. The important place in his thought has the concept of natural law and his aspiration to solve the practical problems of his time. In the common sense the natural law is considered as the form of the law, which emanates from the very nature of Man and stands above the other forms of human law. In the theology it origins from the Eternal law of God. This concept went through the many of historical stages from the Antiquity, the thought of Aristotle or Cicero, to the Middle Ages, the thought of Thomas Aquinas, then to the Enlightenment, in the works of Hobbs, Kant and Rousseau and eventually to the 20th century in the various schools. The revival of natural law in 20th century also led to the development of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was accepted on 10 December 1948 and supported by 48 nations. The Declaration itself became the response to the two World Wars, where human rights in many fields were demolished in favor of ideologies. The study reveals the contribution of Maritain in the development of Declaration and the correlation of his ideas with the content of document to reevaluate the meaning of Jacques Maritain and his philosophy.