A prayer for the economy?
Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI released an encylical on the global economic recession. Entitled “Charity in Truth,” It’s long and, not surprisingly, chock full of interesting attempts to merge Catholic theology with contemporary political, social and economic affairs.
At least one tidbit of interest to The Public Philosopher:
In a climate of mutual trust, the market is the economic institution that permits encounter between persons, inasmuch as they are economic subjects who make use of contracts to regulate their relations as they exchange goods and services of equivalent value between them, in order to satisfy their needs and desires. The market is subject to the principles of so-called commutative justice, which regulates the relations of giving and receiving between parties to a transaction. But the social doctrine of the Church has unceasingly highlighted the importance of distributive justice and social justice for the market economy, not only because it belongs within a broader social and political context, but also because of the wider network of relations within which it operates. In fact, if the market is governed solely by the principle of the equivalence in value of exchanged goods, it cannot produce the social cohesion that it requires in order to function well. Without internal forms of solidarity and mutual trust, the market cannot completely fulfil its proper economic function. And today it is this trust which has ceased to exist, and the loss of trust is a grave loss.
–Sam
Related posts:
- What if equality and growth were compatible?
- Born with a plastic spoon in my mouth
- Is “passing the buck” immoral?
- What holds society together?
- GDP as welfare
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