Drawing on the writings of Jacques Maritain -- and by extension those of Thomas Aquinas -- the essays in this volume examine the effects of theories of knowledge on individuals, culture, and entire schools of philosophical thought. The contributors challenge contemporary epistemologies, which are largely based on writings of Descartes, Locke, and Kant. They critique these theories internally and demonstrate their incompatibility with other goods, such as liberty, human dignity, and access to the transcendent. Maritain's works on human knowledge and the implicit critique of modernity contained within provide an alternative for those seeking to engage the various deficiencies of the "culture of death."