 Jacques Maritain was born on November 18, 1882 in Paris. The son of Paul Maritain, a prominent lawyer, and Geneviève Favre, daughter of the French statesman, Jules Favre, Jacques Maritain studied at the Lycée Henri IV (1898–99) and at the Sorbonne, where he prepared a licence in philosophy (1900–01) and in the natural sciences (1901–02). He was initially attracted to the philosophy of Spinoza. 