Catholic social teaching ultimately derives from Aristotle (via St. Thomas Aquinas whose great work was to reconcile the truths of reason with those of faith). Here is an informative article contrasting our modern liberal conception of politics and a Christian-Aristotelian conception: http://distributistreview.com/mag/2012/08/liberalism-and-the-absence-of-purpose/
What do you think is the single greatest strength of the modern-liberal view as Storck describes it? What do you think is the single greatest strength of the older Christian-Aristotelian view? Is there a rational basis for preferring one over the other?
I believe the single greatest strength of the modern liberal view as Storck describes it is the basis of society on the individual and the value of the individual rights of the person, so that government does not constrain the unique individuality of its societal members. However on the same note I believe that there is strength in the older Christian-Aristotelian view, which recognizes that there are some characteristics of the individual that must be restrained and are not healthy for society and a pursuit of the common good. As a Catholic I believe that there is a rational to prefer the Christian-Aristotelian view to the modern liberal view, namely due to the fallen nature of man. In this way I think that there are certain aspects of human nature such as jealousy, envy, and lust that should be restrained with a proper social and political order. As Storck describes it “The political order existed in order to help man be virtuous, even to help him reach his heavenly home…” By recognizing the it is my thought that a just society would acknowledge the rights of its individual members but would also act to restrain and of the aspects of human nature in order to help man attain higher virtue.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your opinion on the strengths of the two approaches. But I think a balance between the two is more favorable because both approaches can negatively impact society when implemented alone. Examples can be seen in the countries where religion/ government has overwhelming power; people are always oppressed. Similarly places with excessive freedom often have an overwhelming population of people with low moral standards and people lack a real purpose in life.
DeleteThe single greatest strength of the modern-liberal view is that it makes a clearly distinguishing line between church and state. Religion is for the most part a positive influence on society, encouraging acceptable behavior and good deeds. However a society where religion has unlimited power would get in the way of advancement of the society as it would encourage people to completely rely on God. However this is not what should happen because God gave us the ability to think, work, & create and so we must use these abilities rather than ask of Him to do everything. Therefore this modern view of liberalism allows for freedom from literal interpretations of scripture which inhibit the true potential of humanity. On the other hand the Aristotelian view of liberalism ensures that people are not in a state of total chaos because if we were given unlimited freedom people would question the necessity to follow rules or leaders and pursue self-motivated gains. The Aristotelian view proposes that natural law exists and does so for the specific purpose of providing order among people. Thus people are bound to natural laws to act in certain ways towards other people. It is best to have a balance of these two approaches to liberalism because shifting the power in either way has negative effects towards society; either people are oppressed or people are in a state of total violence due to the lack of order. However if one must be chosen it would be less harmful for survival of our species to have the older approach as we may not reach our full potential as creators but we would at least have order and safety (unless the religion promotes violence when interpreted too literally).
ReplyDeleteI believe the greatest strength of the modern-liberal view is the focus on the individual. This view includes the individual and how important each person is to society. Storck describes how each individual has rights and that the state should not take away these rights. He states that no one should take away these individual rights. The Christian-Aristotelian view focuses on the individual rights as well, but mentions how government needs to intervene in certain situations for the better. In my opinion, there is a rational basis preferring the Christian-Aristotelian view because there has to be order in the state for people to live in a more peaceful society. This is what he referred to as the natural law. This natural law, in this view, Storck says it is necessary. Aristotle stated that every animate thing has a purpose and a final cause. In this view, it is described that the government helps individuals to reach that purpose and final cause because the natural law helps keep justice and order in society. The state should not take away the individual's rights, but natural law is necessary.
ReplyDeleteThe modern-liberal views greatest strength is the focus on the individuals natural rights. "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." It divides separately from the wants of the church as people can have different views than that of the theology opinion on sex and marriage. The Christian-Aristotelian view focuses more on the natural law and how we as humans do not need the government to help us live a peaceful organized life instead of descending into chaos. I think its best to prefer the
ReplyDeleteChristian-Aristotelian view because I think as humans we are naturally guided to making the right decisions with only needing the help to not do something that today we know as morally wrong. Acts of unjust such as heavy crimes need to be restricted but one should be allowed to choose their own pathway to lead them to happiness.
There is an interesting view on the individual and individual rights that I believe to the greatest strength. Storck details the individual self and how we have rights that the state should not take away. He feels that the government cannot restrain the unique identity of each person without the society. It is an interesting reversal view of the individual in the Christian-Aristotelian view that recognizes the individual as having important characteristics but that there must be restrictions or government put in place to constrict the individual rights for the better cause of the state. Both views hold weight however the Christian-Aristotelian view puts into place an ORDER for the people in that society to be virtuous. This order was needed for our purpose and the government or as Aristotle described, the Natural Law, was needed for justice.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest strength of the modern-liberal view is the emphasis of individuality and individual rights. People have the right to their own opinion which obviously differs from the Christian-Aristotelian view. This older view in society understands the differences in people but there are restrictions so that there would be more order and peace in society. In my opinion, the Christian-Aristotelian view would be our best way to have a peaceful society. Don;t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in natural rights and being your own person, but if there is not somebody setting that order in society, who knows how hectic things could be?
ReplyDeleteModern liberalism as Storck defines it is essentially classic liberalism, which I would say it's greatest strength is its focus in individual freedom. As Storck mentions this is where most Americans; conservative or liberal fall into (to some varying degree). It is from this classic liberal backing which we derive our cherished value of freedom and the base for our capitalistic economy. In my opinion the strength of a Christian-arostilean view is its ability to recognize varying human traits as being detrimental to society and as such, we should seek to regulate them. This belief can get out of hand easily which is why I feel a heavy classic liberal base with a hint of Christian-arostilean belief is the best compromise. The Christian-arostilean belief would hopefully blunt some of the negative effects of unrestrained classic liberalism.
ReplyDeleteThe single greatest strength of the modern liberal view explained by Storck is the focus he puts on the rights of the individual. Storck talks about how everyone deserves certain rights and that these should never be taken away. As stated by Friedman, " the individual as the ultimate entity in the society." The ability for people to keep their individuality is the driving force behind this view. On the other hand the strength of the Christian-arostilean view was the ability of the political order to guide people on the right path. This view cut out some of the individual rights of humans for the betterment of the society as a whole. They believed what the individual wanted wasn't what was always best for the society as a whole. I believe a middle ground is the best solution. You have to keep the individual happy, but you also have to be concerned about the society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest strength of the older Christian-Aristotlian view is the ability to explaain why things or people do the things that they do. This fact helps to show that there is truly an inherent plan for all people and all things. In the old christian teaching, this brings rise to the idea that God has previously planned a path for all people and the reason that people act the way they do and do the things that they do is because that is the path the God has planned for them.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest strength of the modern-liberal view is the idea of consent. It states that the government earns their rights through the consent of the governed. The governed are willing to give this consent with the assumption that the governing with then protect their natural rights. Both of these views help to explain why things may happen, on rooted in moral Godly view, while the other is rooted in a governmental view. I dont believe that there is rational reasoning behind true following of either view. I think it is truly dependent upon the individual and the needs or beliefs of that individual. I personally feel that aspects of both view can be successfully mixed to appeal to the needs of certain individuals and not one of the views has to be fully followed to understand teaching of the christian teaching of the moral liberal views.
I believe that the single greatest strength of the modern liberal view is the focus on the individual in the state and in the church. The states purpose is to secure the rights of liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness and how they should not be taken away. Individualism in the church is a bit different focus in which they have a choice to be free and rely on God. Storck states that it is solely important to keep social structure with allowing people to be individualistic. The Christian-arostilean view focuses more on the fact that social order is natural and it has a way of working itself out allowing the individual to not have to rely on government for peace and perfection. I prefer the christian-arostilean view because God is there to help guide you and is essentially the ultimate form of government. We should not need to rely on government to create our perfect selves, we should be able to create our own individual by guidance. The government can step in when there is bad to our thought of perfect but they should not have to be the base.
ReplyDeleteBoth the modern-liberal view that, Storck describes, and the older Christian-Aristotelian view have strengths to them. The older Christian-Aristotelian view certainly has strengths as it gives precepts on how to live one’s life and it explains that overall the focus of life it is to work for the common good and to an end which gives life purpose. Pope Pius XI even notes that “……it is the moral law alone which commands us to seek in all our conduct our supreme and final end and……we shall be led by progressive stages to the final end of all, God Himself, our highest and lasting good.” However, there are good qualities to the modern-liberal view as well. While it is flawed in that is mainly seeks only for freedom which at times is at the expense of the common good it has helped our society become more progressive. For example, in Aristotle’s Politics he talks about some slavery being justifiable and he also argues that males are superior to females in regards to the household. Granted, I am using the mindset of today and Aristotle was using the mindset of his day so it is improper for me to judge him, but if we still only used the older Christian-Aristotelian view we would likely still have the viewpoints that Aristotle held as the viewpoint he utilized holds that moral truths are constant. We likely would have also not had the emergence of democracy into the world, at least not the explosion of democracy that we saw following the American Revolution. With the modern-liberal view we see a progression in the way the world is viewed. If one takes both together I think one can both have a society that works toward the common good and is progressive enough to not be stuck with antiquated viewpoints that were held centuries ago. In short, I think it is rational to follow a little bit of both.
ReplyDeleteThe modern-liberal view shows that every person is important to society and helps in some way, shape, or form. Storck describes how each individual has rights and that the state should not take away these rights. The Christian-Aristotelian view focuses on the individual rights as well. They think that depending on the situation, the government should step in but not unless its absolutely necessary. I think this is a good thing because I think everyone has rights, depending on the situation. The government does not need to step in unless it is a large matter. I think large matters would include anything that goes to court, which is how it is now. I think we all have individual rights and those should not be taken away from us. I agree with the Christian-arostilean view because I think God should lead our lives instead of our government.
ReplyDeleteThe moderen-liberal's greatest strength is the rights for individuals to choose. It gives rights to the individual in which they deserve. Storck says that everyone deserves rights and no one else should be able to take this away from them. He says that the ability to choose would be a driving force to our culture. The Christian-Aristotelian view also focuses on individual rights, but this way believes that their should be some restrictions based on certain situations. This is why I like the Christian-Aristotelian way better, because it gives people the right to choose, but only to a certain degree. As human we are bound to make mistakes and I feel that the Christian-Aristotelian keeps things in line.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the single greatest strength of the modern-liberal view as described by Storck is the big emphasis on individualism. Storck goes into detail about how the state has no right to take away a persons individual rights. Not just the government but no one should be able to strip an individual of their rights. For the Christian-Aristotelian viewpoint the greatest strength would also be its stance on individual rights as well. This viewpoint sees individual rights as well but there is some kind of government intervention. There must be some kind of restraint on certain things of individuals because some individuals are not rational. I understand both viewpoints but I feel that the Christian-Aristotelian viewpoint is a better choice. This allows people to have freedom but without the bad selfish aspects associated with that such as greed and jealousy.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Storck, the single greatest strength of the modern-liberal view is the value of the individual people who make up a society. He believes that all people play an important role in there own right, no matter what it is that they do they all have the right to individuality. On the other hand, the single greatest strength of the Christian-Aristotelian view is that in society the individual must conform to society's norms even if it means losing what makes that person stand out. I think the modern-liberal view is more acceptable in today's society because everyone more free to express themselves, which I believe is a good thing, instead of trying to be like everyone else.
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