Jacques Maritain, Freedom in the Modern World


"We must know then what man is: which is the office of metaphysics and even of theology.  Ethics, which we may consider as the rationalization of the use of Freedom, presupposes metaphysics as its necessary prerequisite." 

"Ethics cannot be constituted unless its author is first able to answer the questions: What is man?  Why is he made?  What is the end of human life?"