PERSON and SOCIETY

Question 1

Man is Social: by Nature or Necessity?

Answer 1

by NATURE

1. Sociality, such as any Natural Quality, integrates with All Sectors of of Life of Persons in favor of Integral Good
2. Relations cannot be left to mere Spontaneity
3. Man is a Free, Non-Determined Being

Question 2

Scripture for Human Sociality

Answer 2

[Gen. 1:27]

[Gen. 2:18, 20, 23]

Question 3

Definition of SOCIETY

Answer 3

[CCC 1880] –
= A society is a group of persons bound together organically by a PRINCIPLE OF UNITY that goes beyond each one of them.
2. As an assembly that is At Once VISIBLE and SPIRITUAL, a society ENDURES THROUGH TIME: it Gathers up the Past & Prepares for the Future. Each member must RESPECT those in AUTHORITY who have Charge of the Common Good.

Question 4

TYPES of Society

Answer 4

1. NATURAL
   a. RELIGION [Church]
   - -
   b. CIVIL [Human Nature]
   - - Common Humanity
   - - Unties in the Collective

c. FAMILY [Singularity]
- - Unites in the Singular
- - “MY father… MY brother…”

2. FREE/ARTIFICIAL 
["Human Goals"]
a. Work
b. Friendship
c. Associations

Question 5

Types of Links for Artificial/Free Societies of Association

Answer 5

• • Ethnicity
• • Language
• • Territory
• • Culture
• • Love

Question 6

Necessity of Fundamental Absolute for Society

Answer 6

= TRUTH of Man –> Made in the Image of God

Question 7

Society and Transcendental Dimension of the Person

Answer 7

Many Contemporary Cultural Currents believe Religious and Transcendental Element is STRICTLY PRIVATE and has No Place in Societal Life

Cause of Problems:
= Forgetting, theoretically and practically, of Essential Dimensions of Human Being – Subjectivity and Transcendence

Question 8

ERRORS Regarding Person and Society

Answer 8

1. Regarding SOCIALITY
2. Regarding PERSON-SOCIETY RELATIONSHIP
3. Regarding TRANSCENDENTAL Dimension

Question 9

Errors Regarding SOCIALITY

Answer 9

– Society is NOT an INVENTION or a DISCOVERY

1. CONTRACTUALISM –
2. UTILITARIANISM – Persons only in sense they are Useful
   - - Void of Ontological Value

DANGER: Forget Spiritual Element.

Question 10

Errors Regarding PERSON-SOCIETY Relationship

Answer 10

1. INDIVIDUALISM – Society as a “Means for Me”
   - - [Hobbes]
   - - [Aquinas] says our Role is to be Friends with Each Others
2. COLLECTIVISM – the Individual is a MEANS for Society
   [ie. MARXISM]
3. ILLUMINSIM – Belief we can Create Structures that Automatically Perfect Man.
   a. Centered on Technical Progress
   b. Belief we can Remove All Imperfections
   c. Often Strips Freedom
   d. Undermine Dignity and Uniqueness of each Individual

Question 11

Errors Regarding TRANSCENDENTAL Dimension

Answer 11

1. ATHEISM – Rejects and relation with God. Rejects or Negates Relation, but it is Still there.
2. LAICISM – claims that the State is Autonomous in relation to ecclesiastical laws, in which the political & religious dimension are diverse.
   - - detaches Politics from the Moral Sphere & Divine Plan.
   - - Threat to Religious Freedom

Question 12

Force of Collaboration should be Directed Towards…?

Answer 12

1. SERVICE OF PERSONS

2. COMMON GOOD