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The aim of this paper is to reflect on the essence (nature) of democracy, which is widely considered the best form of government. Although democracy is generally considered to be a kind of unquestionable value, there is no agreement on the answer to the question of its essence. The author seeks to outline the answer to that question in the light of the philosophy of Jacques Maritain, a great French philosopher and one of the most famous Thomists and personalists of the 20th century. Maritain also considered democracy to be the best form of government because it is the most adequate to the dignity of the human person, which is created in the image of God. For Maritain, democracy therefore reflects trust in human nature, and he sees the Gospel’s spirit of freedom and the hope of the Gospel’s brotherhood as the essence of democracy. The paper assumes that the true knowledge about the nature of democracy is a kind of antidote to antidemocratic and totalitarian aspirations. Maritain calls for democracy of a personalistic and pluralistic type, and opposes it to the modern, liberal and individualistic understanding of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]