Politics is Grounded in Personhood

THE CHURCH'S SOCIAL DOCTRINE as it relates to the foundation and the purpose of political community, is personalist. "The human person is the foundation and purpose of political life." (Compendium, No. 384). At once, this personalist vision rejects several things. First, it rejects any materialistic--that is, non-spiritual, non-Transcendental--vision of the world. Second, it rejects any political theory that rejects the human as a person, with a particular nature (a nature which he makes not himself, but one which is "given"), and with a particular final end, and ultimate destiny (not one which he makes himself, but again one which is "given").

The political community originates in the nature of persons, whose conscience "reveals to them and enjoins them to obey" the order which God has imprinted in all his creatures: "a moral and religious order; and it is this order--and not considerations of a purely extraneous, material order--which has the greatest validity in the solution of problems relating to their lives as individuals and as members of society, and problems concerning individual States and their interrelations."

(Compendium, No. 384) (quoting Pope John XXIII, Pacem in terris, 258 and Mater et magistra, 450)

The Church's political vision clearly is founded on the natural law, on an order that is part of reality, of what is, an order which is given and is part of our creaturehood and createdness, and order which we do not make for ourselves, an order to which conscience prompts us to conform. This natural order, which is a moral one and is to be distinguished from a mere physical order, is part and parcel of God's creation, of which we are part, and it reflects the divine order. Drawing on the philosophical insights of Plato, Platonists, and Stoics, theologians put it this way: the natural law is nothing but an expression of, a participation in, the Eternal Law insofar as it relates to the human person, a rational creation.**

This natural law is, in its most fundamental expression, found in the two-fold commandment to love God and to love one's neighbor as one's self. The Golden Rule is at the heart of politics. As the Compendium expresses it:

Being open to both the Transcendent [that is the God who is "beyond" him, "outside" of him, "above" him] and to others is [man's] distinguishing trait. Only in relation to the Transcendent and to others does the human person reach the total and complete fulfillment of himself. This means that for the human person, a naturally social and political being, "social life is not something added one" but is part of an essential and indelible dimension.

(Compendium, No. 384)

Because this order is found all about us and within us, and is part of the natural order of things, it is something that we "discover," not something we "invent."* Since it is principally founded upon the use of practical reason, which of course is limited, created faculty, it should not surprise us that there may be some development in our understanding of the natural law. It should not surprise us that we may--from time to time, as individuals or even as cultures--get it wrong.

Though the order in which the natural law inheres and which it reflects is a posteriori, that is, it exists prior to, and independent of, our existence, the natural moral law is not something which we know a priori. It is something which we learn a posteriori. It is something we learn through the use of our practical reason, particularly the faculty of conscience, as it is informed with the reality that is both in us (especially our inclinations, what I have called our "intellectual feltness"), and around us (especially the existence of others of our kind as equally "intellectors of being" and "willers of good"). For this reason, the Church recognizes that this "order must be gradually discovered and developed by humanity." (Compendium, No. 384)

The fact that we "discover" the natural moral law means that there may be progressive "discovery" of it, i.e., development in our understanding of it. This development occurs not only in the individual (we learn about right or wrong as we grow and develop and confront experiences following the age of reason; hence the notion of wisdom coming with age), but also in societies as a whole as they develop in time, confront situations to which they have to adapt and from which they learn, and develop their particular mores, traditions, and customs.***

Man, a political animal, does not go about implementing this natural law on his own. To be sure the natural law ought to guide his individual acts. But it is also the basis of political life, of social life, of his life in common:

The political community, a reality inherent in mankind, exists to achieve an end otherwise unobtainable: the full growth of its members, called to cooperate steadfastly for the attainment of the common good, under the impulse of their natural inclinations toward what is true and good.

(Compendium, No. 384)

That is to say, in forming their political institutions and their social life, in coming together and cooperating for the common good, human persons are to give priority to the good over the right. In the Church's view, which is one based upon man as he is, the entire modern liberal construct--which gives priority to the right over the good--is ill-conceived.

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*I use scarequotes because we may be said to "invent" the natural law in the original sense of that word. In Latin, the word invenire (from which our word "invent" obviously comes) means to "come upon," to "stumble upon," "to find," or "to discover." The modern denotation and connotation of the English word "invent," however, is to come up with something, to contrive, produce, or fabricate it, for and by one's self. The natural law is not something we "invent" in this latter sense.
**E.g., St. Thomas, Summa Theologiae, IaIIae, Q. 91, a. 2.
***It should be stressed that this development is not always progressive. While generally there is progress in man's knowledge, including his knowledge of the natural law (what Yves Simon calls the "law of progressivity"), it is not something assured, and there are times where regress is possible. For example, two generations ago, contraception, abortion, premarital sex, homosexual sexual acts, and divorce and remarriage would have been recognized for what they were: moral enormities. Modernly, we view these as goods or rights. There has been a huge regress in this area. There is also a "law of regressivity."

Veritatis Splendor: Part 33--Human Equality and Natural Law

MAN DISPLAYS A GREAT DIVERSITY in his cultures and traditions, not to mention the tremendous diversity of natural, physical, intellectual, and psychological gifts in each individual man, woman, or child. Each man, woman, and child is different, and therefore incommensurable, uncomparable. And yet, for all their uniqueness and incommensurability, they are equal. Not only do they share a common human nature, they are equal when it comes to the moral law. Here is an unalterable, absolute, unchanging truth:

When it is a matter of the moral norms prohibiting intrinsic evil, there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the master of the world or the "poorest of the poor" on the face of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal.

VS, 96.

The natural law, then, is a great equalizer. It cuts across the entirety of society, through all hierarchies, all socio-economic strata, all castes, all religions, all ideologies to govern all men in all societies, bar none:

In this way, moral norms, and primarily the negative ones, those prohibiting evil, manifest their meaning and force, both personal and social. By protecting the inviolable personal dignity of every human being they help to preserve the human social fabric and its proper and fruitful development. The commandments of the second table of the Decalogue in particular — those which Jesus quoted to the young man of the Gospel (cf. Mt 19:19) — constitute the indispensable rules of all social life.

VS, 97. By being the great equalizer, the natural moral law--and the human rights that flow from it--is a bulwark against totalitarianism of every kind--whether ideological or as a result of moral relativism. VS, 99.

There is no part of man's life--private or public--that would be outside the pale of the natural moral law. All his activities, from the most mundane to the most transcendent, are governed by moral considerations. "Thus, in every sphere of personal, family, social and political life, morality — founded upon truth and open in truth to authentic freedom — renders a primordial, indispensable and immensely valuable service not only for the individual person and his growth in the good, but also for society and its genuine development." VS, 101.

Democracy is not insulated from totalitarianism. It is an error to think that the democratic process is sufficient to preserve the freedoms and rights of its citizenry. Democracy coupled with moral relativism is a recipe for totalitarianism of a different kind. As the Pope, who haled from Poland and saw first-hand the evils of Marxist communism, warns:

[T]here is no less grave a danger that the fundamental rights of the human person will be denied and that the religious yearnings which arise in the heart of every human being will be absorbed once again into politics. This is the risk of an alliance between democracy and ethical relativism, which would remove any sure moral reference point from political and social life, and on a deeper level make the acknowledgement of truth impossible. Indeed, "if there is no ultimate truth to guide and direct political activity, then ideas and convictions can easily be manipulated for reasons of power. As history demonstrates, a democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism."

VS, 101 (quoting Centesimus annus, 46).

The Ten Commandments, both in their general terms and through their more specific demands, are binding upon all men:

These commandments are formulated in general terms. But the very fact that "the origin, the subject and the purpose of all social institutions is and should be the human person" allows for them to be specified and made more explicit in a detailed code of behavior. The fundamental moral rules of social life thus entail specific demands to which both public authorities and citizens are required to pay heed. Even though intentions may sometimes be good, and circumstances frequently difficult, civil authorities and particular individuals never have authority to violate the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. In the end, only a morality which acknowledges certain norms as valid always and for everyone, with no exception, can guarantee the ethical foundation of social coexistence, both on the national and international levels.

VS, 97.

Manifestly, the world's "principalities and powers," its princes, ministers, and presidents, its multinational corporations, face and often cause "serious forms of social and economic injustice and political corruption," and these are often the result of violation of fundamental moral norms, particularly involving the violation of fundamental human rights which find their bases in those exceptionless norms of the natural law. Any reform, any "radical personal and social renewal capable of ensuring justice, solidarity, honesty, and openness," must not only be rooted in a "moral sense," but must also be "rooted and fulfilled in the religious sense." VS, 98.

This, of course, means that God must be at the center of all efforts at rectifying social and economic injustice among men.

Only God, the Supreme Good, constitutes the unshakable foundation and essential condition of morality, and thus of the commandments, particularly those negative commandments which always and in every case prohibit behaviour and actions incompatible with the personal dignity of every man. The Supreme Good and the moral good meet in truth: the truth of God, the Creator and Redeemer, and the truth of man, created and redeemed by him. Only upon this truth is it possible to construct a renewed society and to solve the complex and weighty problems affecting it, above all the problem of overcoming the various forms of totalitarianism, so as to make way for the authentic freedom of the person.

VS, 99.

The natural moral law, of which God is the author as he is the author of our nature, will therefore necessarily govern economic and political questions, as these are nothing other than personal questions of morality writ large.

The economic sphere, if governed within the natural moral law, will exhibit certain features:

• There will be a certain temperance, a moderation of attachment to the goods of the world.


• There will be an attachment to the virtue of justice, a desire to give to our neighbor his due.


• There will be a sense of solidarity among the members of the system, which means that the Golden Rule will be followed and kept, and that there will be a sense of shared duty, of the acceptance of burdens, of helping those who are weakest or poorest.


• Some behavior will not be tolerated:




• Theft, deliberate retention of goods lent or objects lost.


• Business fraud.


• Unjust wages.


• Forcing up prices by trading on the ignorance or hardship of the other.


• Misappropriation and private use of corporate property of an enterprise.


• Work badly done.


• Tax fraud.


• Forgery of checks and/or invoices.


• Excessive expenses.


• Waste of resources.


• Any enslavement of human beings, or any system that shows disregard for their personal dignity such as chattel slavery.

Similarly, the political sphere will be influenced by the natural moral law and will exhibit certain features:

• The governing authorities will recognize an obligation to tell the truth to those being governed.


• There will be an openness in public administration.


• There will be impartiality in the service of the body politic.


• There will be respect for the rights of political adversaries.


• There will be safeguards which assure fair trials and which prevent summary trials and convictions.


• Public funds will be justly and honestly used.


• Equivocal or illicit means to gain, preserve, or increase power at any cost will be rejected.