Peter Kreeft has written a book about the philosophy of Mary of Nazareth. He calls her the greatest philosopher who ever lived because she loved Jesus, and Jesus was Wisdom itself, and she was without sin, so she was indeed the greatest philosopher who ever lived. Unlike many philosophers, she practiced what she preached, so she was the holiest philosopher who ever lived. There are many aspects to Mary’s philosophy. Here are some excerpts from this book that will highlight some points in her philosophy. Saints test reason by faith; philosophers test faith by reason. Saints ground reason in God, in divine revelation known by faith. Philosophers ground faith by reason; they demand reasons for faith. There a good description of happiness, as follows: Objectively speaking, our happiness (eudaimonia) is the objectively real and lasting state of having a soul (daimon) that is good (eu) both mentally (wisdom) and morally (virtue). When Aristotle wrote this, he was only uttering common sense. The subjective description of happiness is that it exists on three levels: pleasure (in the body), satisfaction or peace or contentment (in the heart and soul) and joy (in the disposition (prevailing mood) of the mind). Nietzsche is right to say that to understand anyone’s philosophy, even his metaphysics, one should ask what ethics it leads to. Wisdom, the goal of philosophy, is precisely this joining of theory and practice, metaphysics and ethics. And we all know that we do in fact learn this wisdom more by concrete examples than by abstract impersonal principles. And Mary is our very best merely human example for ethics. Everyone needs wisdom even more than they need air or water or life itself. Does that sound ridiculous to you? Ask yourself this question: Is it not better to die as a wise man than to live as a fool? Philosophy is for everyone because everyone has a philosophy of life, a world view, and a life view. It may be wise or foolish, intelligent or stupid, true or false, good or bad. But if you say that “my philosophy is no philosophy”, that is a philosophy, too: a foolish, stupid and bad one. David Hume claimed that you can’t get an “ought” from an “is”. What he meant is that you can’t determine values by looking at nature. Kreeft points out that the three transcendentals in philosophy - truth, goodness and beauty - are properties of everything that exists. Thus, everything that exists has a purpose, and its purpose determines its ultimate end, or its “good”. So values are objective facts, and there is no fact-value divide. On the issue of whether reason (rationalism) or the senses (empiricism) provide a stronger basis for knowledge, Mary of Nazareth begins neither with reason nor with sense experience but with faith. Implicitly, this includes faith in God’s gifts to human nature of both reason and sense experience. Kreeft gives reasonable support for the things as he lists as Mary’s philosophy, so his book really does explain Mary’s philosophy. Just as men and women complement each other, Mary’s intuitive, compassionate, trusting philosophy is wise and worth studying. Mary was the handmaid of the Lord, and she knew that her task was to do God’s work on earth. Like all of philosopher Peter Kreeft’s books, this book is short, easy-to-read, and inspiring. This is probably only book on Mary of Nazareth’s philosophy, and it’s excellent.