Etienne Henry Gilson was born in Paris, 1888, and was a medieval scholar and theorist throughout the 20th century. After supervising trench-digging on the front lines during World War I, he became a lecturer at the University of Lille in France. In 1929 he crossed the pond to Canada where he co-founded the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, which would become the leading institute for the study of history and philosophy of the Middle Ages. Throughout his career he was involved in several aid initiatives, including after World War II, through helping to found the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Gilson was an active contributor to several publications, commenting on contemporary politics, the value of Quebecois literature, and regarding Vatican II, questioning specifically the use of the vernacular in Mass.
Header Image: Étienne Gilson, teacher, Berkeley, California, 1969 © Ingeborg Gerdes, with permission from University of St. Michael's College Archives, The Toronto Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Collection: Étienne Gilson Fonds.
Étienne Gilson, “Pour une éducation nationale.” La vie intellectuelle
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This source is important as it lays out Gilson’s vision for education in his context, that of 1940’s post-war France. Society was fraught with divisions between the religious and secular, and he proposed a middle ground of a common curriculum which would be delivered by teachers that had undergone a common year of formation. Gilson’s proposal for 1940’s France can offer some insights as to how education can serve the common good today, by promoting human and social unity instead of division.
Gilson, Étienne, “Pour une éducation nationale.” La vie intellectuelle (1945). This text can be found in the University of Toronto, Etienne Gilson Archives, Fonds |
étienne Gilson, “The Place of Graduate Studies in Higher Education”
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Gilson’s speech laid out his view of the education system, and connected his other works on education, which were more concerned with primary and secondary schooling, to the university context. In so doing, Gilson enables the reader to better understand his other pedagogical writings. He also affirmed the importance of academic freedom, which informs our reflections today, a world in which academia and morality are subject to attack and subversion, just as they were in Gilson’s time.
Gilson, Étienne, “The Place of Graduate Studies in Higher Education” Speech prepared but undelivered, intended to be given at York University, 1963. This text can be found in the University of Toronto, Etienne Gilson Archives, Fonds |
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étienne gilson, “The Principles of the Democratic State”
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This speech presents Gilson's thoughts on the opposing political and economic systems of his time. His critical analysis and proposal of alternative systems (or reforms to existing systems) enables the reader to discern the influence of Catholic Social Teaching on Gilson. Furthermore, Gilson’s thoughts are highly relevant to today, as we still have Democracy and Marxism, Capitalism and Socialism, and they continue to influence our society. While neither political or economic system is perfect, Gilson asserts that democracy and capitalism can more easily be reformed to serve the common good.
Gilson, Étienne “The Principles of the Democratic State” An Address to the Political Science Society of the University of Toronto, November 1947. This text can be found in the University of Toronto, Etienne Gilson Archives, Fonds |
Shanabruch, Charles, “A Catholic Perspective on Capitalism and Economic Democracy: Edward M. Marciniak’s Advocacy for Justice.”
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Economic Democracy is the cornerstone of Gilson’s proposals for socio-economic reform, and Shanabruch presents an overview of Marciniak as an example one someone in a similar time who was actively promoting it. This source enables one to progress from the abstract exhortations of Gilson and Catholic Social Teaching to a more concrete living out of these teachings in one’s daily life.
Shanabruch, Charles, “A Catholic Perspective on Capitalism and Economic Democracy: Edward M. Marciniak’s Advocacy for Justice.” American Catholic Studies 125 (2014):1-22. Read the Article: UofT |
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Gilson, Étienne, "l’Équilibre Canadienne." McGrath
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Here, Gilson remarks on the cultural duality that exists between French and English further draws Gilson’s abstract notions into reality in a Canadian context. Furthermore, the dualities of Gilson’s time, specifically secular vs. religious and French vs. English have now exploded into complex pluralities, as we live in a multicultural, multiethnic, and diverse world. Gilson’s comments on the Canadian cultural duality as he saw it in 1945 can be interpreted and brought into today’s context, and can inform one’s reflections even today.
Gilson, Étienne, "l’Équilibre Canadienne." McGrath 645 (1945). This text can be found in the University of Toronto, Etienne Gilson Archives, Fonds |
