In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

CHARITY AND THE SOCIAL ORDER I. INTRODUCTION T HE QUEST of man for unity and order is the mainspring of all that is history. For tranquillity of order his wars have been waged; for order of mind his art and culture ebb and flow; for unity with the Deity, there are his religions, his churches, his homes, his schools. This search for unity springs from his very nature. As an individual . substance man is one, and the whole world about him must contribute to that oneness, else it is meaningless. As a rational creature endowed with an intellect whose work is the perception of relationships, man seeks unity in order, the stuff of which relationships are made. As a being endowed with free will, always acting for an ultimate end of his own choice, an end which gives unity and purposiveness to his acts, man puts order into his world of activity. This continual quest of order on the part of man is admirably illustrated, perhaps through sheer contrast, in that vastly complex and somewhat disordered thing called society, the broad realm of man's activities with his fellow creatures. More particularly we refer to such activities of men as are the objects of the social sciences-the relations of man to the material necessities upon which depends his livelihood, and his relations to the various groups to which, of choice or necessity, he and his fellow men belong. Order requires a certain unity, and unity derives from a principle--a common source, a radical oneness. Socio-economic relations being so manifestly complex, having neither the concreteness of the visible creation nor the absoluteness of the spiritual world, have always challenged the ingenuity of man to discover or invent principles of social order. Nor has man shirked the task. There is, for instance, the individualist prin539 540 LOUIS A. RYAN ciple of Herbert Spencer: " Every man has freedom to do all that he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man." 1 The class principle finds this expression in Karl Marx: " The economic structure of society is the real foundation on which rise legal and political superstructures and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness." 2 Totalitarianism, as explained by Benito Mussolini, accepts the state as principle: " Fascism conceives of the State as an Absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived in their relation to the State." 3 The racism of Hitler claims blood as the principle of social structure: " All that is not race in this world is trash. All world historical events, however, are only the expression of the race's instinct of self-preservation in its good or in its evil meaning." 4 A very recent and even more universalist social philosophy enuntiates its principle in the name of democracy which " is the plentitude of heart-service to a highest religion embodying the essence of all higher religions. Democracy is nothing more and nothing less than humanism in theocracy and rational theocracy in universal humanism." 5 More in the realm of reason is justice as the natural principle of society. It is stated thus by Aristotle: "Since in every art and science the end aimed at is always good, so particularly in this, which is the most excellent of all, the founding of civil society, the good therein aimed at is justice; for it is this which is for the benefit of all." 6 Nor does the Catholic Church, with her theology and supernatural philosophy of living, fail to propose a fundamental principle for the social order. It is charity, love of neighbor. 1 H. Spencer, The Principles of Ethics (New York: 1897), II, 46. 2 K. Marx, The Critique of Political Economy (New York: 1904), p. 11. • B. Mussolini, " The Political and Social Doctrine of Fascism," trans. from Enciclopedia Italiana. International Conciliation, No. 306 (New York: 1935), p. IS. 'A. Hitler, Mein Kampf (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1939), p. 406. • The City of Man (New York: 1940), p. SS. 8 Aristotle, Politics (New York: Everyman's Library, 1921), Bk. III, c. 12, p. 88. Cf. Summa Theol., II-II, q. 79. a. 1...

pdf

Share