16 Principles of SJ Flashcards
The primacy of the Human Person
human beings are the foundation, cause and end of every social institution.
Justice and the Common Good
Justice: to render what is due to another
Common Good: “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.”
Conformity of the Social Order to the Moral Order
Social Order is subject to the human person.
Moral Order protects and promotes human welfare.
Human Solidarity
What every individual person has in common;
made in God’s image and likeness,
has equal dignity and rights.
Private Ownership
The right to own property, which needs to be used so that it benefits not just the individual but the common good.
Universal Purpose of the World’s Resources
For the resources of different communities to use for the good of the world, especially the poor.
Subsidiarity
Political society should leave to civil society those functions and responsibilities which the smaller communities can reasonably fulfill on their own.
Importance of Marriage and the Family
Marriage and family are the foundation of society. If the welfare of the family is not upheld, the conditions of the common good cannot be maintained.
Importance of Religion
Being made in the image and likeness of God gives human persons not only a natural end but supernatural end.
Therefore, the good of religion is necessary for the common good and for a stable, peaceful, and a just social order.
Dignity of Work & Dignity of Workers
Work is part of God’s original intention for human fulfillment. Therefore, workers and their work possess special dignity.
Morally Responsible Openness to Life
Married couples should exercise “responsible parenthood” and the civil and political societies should support couples in doing so.
Preferential Option for the Poor
The poor have less means available to them, therefore those with more adequate means have an obligation to evaluate social and economic activity from the viewpoint of the poor and the powerless.
Fair Wage
Persons have a natural right to earn what they need to live a dignified life. Just wage equals family wage.
Right of Labor to Organize
Because of the disparity in power between individual workers and wealthy business owners, contract negotiations are often not free and fair.
But when groups of workers join together and collectively represent workers’ interests, fair agreements are more possible.
Therefore, the freedom of workers to
associate can be considered a natural right.
Right to Participate
Humans by nature are social, free, morally self-governing, and creative. Therefore, it is proper for them to actively participate in the constitutive areas of life in society: economic, political, and cultural.
