Out of a Kantian Chrysalis?: A Maritainian Critique of Maréchal

Not all remained quiet on the Thomistic front during the years 1922-23 when the first three volumes of Fr. Joseph Marechal\u27s masterpiece concerning the starting point of metaphysics were published. The very title of the work highlighted its intention to interact with the epistemological problem: Le point de depart de la metaphysique; Leqons sur le developpement historique et theorique du problem de la connaissance. Along with others, Jacques Maritain was troubled by what he perceived to be a well intentioned but potentially dangerous departure from the thought of St. Thomas in Marechal\u27s first and third Cahiers. Although this work was otherwise rich in historical expositions of the first order, Maritain worried that Marechal\u27s \u27\u27tentative assimilation of Kantianism above all runs the risk of leading to a corruption of Thomism and that it may prove to be a corrosive influence on many minds. ..