1. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

2. INTRODUCTION THE COURSE Description of political and social institutions Analysis from the point of view of classical philosophy Is there an ideal social order that responds to human dignity Analysing the common good as an organising principle of a just society Analysis of different political systems

3. FREEDOM AND THE LIBERAL CULTURE Promote individual rights and freedom Total equality among all citizens Who then takes the lead? If we are all self sufficient is there any need for guiding principles?

4. WHY SPP? Understand the need and nature of political institutions based on the dignity of the human person. Appreciate the concept of the common good as the context of politics and justice as the end of political action Gain practical knowledge of principles that guide personal and public responsibility.

5. AFRICA’S SOCIAL CRISIS We are constantly threatened by security, disease and poverty. Can we claim progress in Africa? Herdsmen own cell phones and yet our slums keep expanding? Corruption is at the root of our social crisis, SPP seeks to provide an objective understanding of these issues from a theoretical point of view with a concrete application.

6. UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE Reality of fragmented knowledge Starts as far back as high school. Goes beyond our ability to acquire various skills Development of science to what end? Is there a possibility of unifying knowledge? We each have a role to play in society but within context and leading towards a certain end

7. PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES OF UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE Unity of knowledge does not mean that you know everything It means that all scientific knowledge has to be an effort to seek the truth and attain the good Unity of knowledge and unity of life Paradox of a good CEO and a bad husband/wife

8. NATURE AND OBJECT OF SPP

9. MAN’S ACTIONS AND THE RULE OF REASON What do all human beings have in common?.. The human nature All human beings share ‘common goods’ and ‘common ends’. Man’s task in life is discovering them and bringing them to full realisation. We have to find in life the criteria to guide mans aim or his true end.

10. MAN’S ACTIONS AND THE RULE OF REASON Morality and moral criteria is intrinsic in man. It is embedded in human nature nature? What in human nature ? Natural moral law: These are the principles that guide man’s conduct

11. Practical reason is the rational principle that guides and puts order man’s actions. This is not simply nature but a natural law, which appears as a metaphysical

12. INSTICT VS REASON While plants and animals can achieve their purpose by instinct, the human being must do it only through good choice. The wrong choice cannot lead him to being good or perfect. It is fundamental to recall the importance in judging correctly the conditions for a good choice or a good decision or act (Cf. Ethics I and II), which depend on the right perception of the good end by man’s reason. Therefore, in man’s behavior, the natural law is prior to the virtues. While the intellect is given in nature, the practical reason must be used in every decision to choose the right one. That’s why virtues are acquired while the ability to acquire them is given in nature. This ability however cannot develop without the individual’s effort to do so. Virtues, like human laws are ulterior developments of the first principles of man’s nature

13. DEFINING NATURAL LAW Natural law refers to a series of simple precepts perceived by human reason from the first practical principles, intellectually known. By those principles, our reason distinguishes among the ends we seek which ones are right and which ones are wrong in reference to the good. In Ethics, those are called first principles of practical reason. Natural law is the law that prescribes us to do what is good and avoid what is evil. The achievement of such precept and the realization of our potential for the good is precisely task of practical reason. Natural law is of the realm of practical reason and as such, is a guide of what is rationally good. The moral rule is both practical and rational. It is, at the same time, a precept which implies of a reference for action

14. CONT. Natural law is not an arbitrary prescription because all living beings tend to what is good. Therefore, obeying moral law which results in achieving the practical good, is what we really want, when we act. At this stage, the rest of moral precepts are concrete aspects of the first one: the achievement of human good. The achievement of human good, individually and socially, must take into account the fact that human nature carries specific goods that are to be defended and protected absolutely. In the very starting process of our actions, there is a moral principle whose application implies necessarily rectitude in our understanding. However the rectitude of reason is not innate, it must cultivated, otherwise, it would be difficult to know what is right, and even more difficult, to do what is right

15. OBJECT OF SPP The universal END for man: based on his freedom and dignity. Universal = good for him and for all and good in itself The good we expect from political life cannot be, then, considered as an instrumental good only.

16. NOTE ON SUBSTANCE The human substance is material and spiritual at the same time. Soul and body are the two co-principles of the human being. The unity of both co- principles is so strong that it is impossible to separate them in the human being. And only together they make the human person. Dignity of the human person as the basis of human rights It radicates in the particular person’s nature Most specifically his dignity

17. QUESTIONS ON FREEDOM What is freedom? Are prisonners free? Are drug addicts free? What is the meaning of freedom to be vicious? Explain why society participates in the person’s dignity and rights. Society: - Radical generosity (having and giving) ; - life, knowledge and love; - Habitat (we cannot have things if we don’t have ideas, hence it’s more important to BE thanto HAVE). - Society is not an accessory to man, but a necessary complement. Natural environment for cultivating virtues. SOCIETY WITHOUT VIRTUES COLLAPSES

18. THE COMMON GOOD: DEFINITION&PARTICIPATION The sum total of social conditions (material and spiritual), which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment fully and easily. Be based on truth, Be built on justice, Should grow in freedom. Food, clothing and housing Free choice of state of life Right to set up a family Right to knowledge and education, work, good reputation and respect Right to act according to the dictates of conscience Right to safeguard privacy Rightful freedom of speech and religion

19. COMMON GOOD & JUSTICE Essential Elements: Respect of the person, social well being and peace. Peace a fundamental content of CG Principles of the Common Good: Respect of equality, respect of natural law and respect of the unity of the person. Participation in achieving the CG: On the part of authority On the part of citizens

20. LIMITS OF THE LIBERAL CONCEPT OF THE CG Supremacy of the individual with subsequent regulation of individual rights (curiously a very scarce consideration of his duties) Asocial nature of the individual, but with a pretension to use society Immanence of the individual; loss of the concept of the Common Good reduced to interest Rights of individuals are subordinated to the rights of the group The human being is a product of society, which is supposed to satisfy all his material needs The collective good, that is the victory the poor classes over the rich ones, is considered as the supreme goo d

21. CG FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF C. EVIL Common evils can be natural catastrophes, human attitudes, man induced evils like contamination or corrupt structures Sense of responsibility in what is evil can be stressed with SOCIO- POLITICAL EVIDENCE If there is a common responsibility to avoid those types of evil, then, more so there is responsibility to construct common good This moral responsibility to avoid evil should mean also the search for true good for people and groups, that is, the common good: in its definition as “the creation of conditions for the best development of basic institutions of the society (family, enterprise, culture, State, Church)”. The good functioning of such institutions has positive repercussions in the good of society as a whole