Solidarity and the New Inequality

This essay considers how the JRE has engaged Catholic ethics in the last 50 years and how the concerns of Catholic ethics during this period of exceptional change are reflected and developed in the JRE. It discusses the transformation of Catholic ethics by focusing on the transitions: (i) from classical to historical consciousness; (ii) from an essentialist concept of human nature to a dynamic concept of the moral subject; (iii) from abstract to contextual moral reason; and (iv) from a discourse that ignored the politics of power to one that reckons with it, analyzing the distinct ways in which the JRE engaged with these transformations. It concludes by looking to the future and suggests that a deeper engagement with the breadth of Catholic ethics internationally may help advance the Journal's mission and that a fuller interaction with the comparative and humanistic dimensions of the JRE's mission will enhance Catholic ethics.

Section: Foregrounding Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflecting and Advancing the Transformation: Catholic Theological Ethics and the Journal of Religious Ethics, 1973–2023

Hogan¹

2023

“…Weithman proceeds to inquire into what solidarity as a virtue means and suggests that we think of virtue as “a settled quality of character by which someone is disposed to a set of feelings and actions because of her orientation to a certain good” (Weithman , 315). In the case of solidarity, that certain good is the common good.…”

Section: Solidarity and Catholic Social Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…26). As Weithman states, “agents with the virtue of solidarity treat that commitment [to the common good] as regulative of the on‐going activities by which they relate to citizens” (Weithman , 318). To be a morally upright citizen is to have a commitment to the common good to be oriented in one's values, priorities, and activities toward their impact upon the common good.…”

Section: Solidarity and Catholic Social Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With reference to solidarity, an institution can offend if it produces, intentionally or not, outcomes contrary to an individual or group's ability to attain those social conditions that enable their fulfillment. As Weithman puts it, “the activities of institutions are regulated by solidarity when the institutions are set up to serve, and when they do effectively serve, the good of their participants” (Weithman , 320). On the other hand, when an institution effectively brings about, whether or not it is its aim, a state of inequality that prevents the participation of others in the common good, then it is an institution that violates solidarity.…”

Section: Solidarity and Catholic Social Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Catholic Social Teaching, Economic Inequality, and American Society

Himes¹

2019

The essay begins with an explanation of the underlying theological vision that supports Catholic social teaching's commitment to the centrality of the common good and the role of solidarity as both a virtue and a norm. The vision of humanity as one family and the church as a sacrament of unity is the foundation for a communitarian ethic that prizes inclusion, participation, and relative equality in the quest for a truly just society. An array of social science studies is then employed to show that economic inequality “bleeds” into other realms of public life to undermine fundamental commitments of American society, namely, equal opportunity and political democracy. The essay concludes that an understanding of Catholic social teaching promotes a critical perspective that is deeply at odds with ongoing trends in the U.S. economy.

“…Christian moral and theological approaches offer a strong account of society and the ties that bind humans together (Hicks ; ). The Catholic tradition has offered the fullest account of social solidarity as a quality of society that allows people to develop to their full potential; Paul Weithman’s essay in this volume contributes to this perspective (). It is this value, solidarity, which leads us to understand inequalities of certain goods and at certain levels as a moral problem.…”

Section: The Mediating Factors Of Exchange: Socially Situating Justicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality, Justice, and the Myth of Unsituated Market Exchange

Hicks¹

2019

This article examines inequality from a framework of justice that attends to the socially situated nature of market activity, including exchange. I argue that accounts of unsituated exchange—accounts of market exchange that abstract from social situations, such as philosopher Robert Nozick’s influential libertarian account of justice—overlook various factors that contribute to growing economic inequality in contemporary society. Analyses of market exchange must incorporate the role of “third parties” who play a role in shaping and/or who are affected by economic transactions. The involvement of these additional parties, including the government and future generations, is not interference but, instead, an integral part of the economic and moral accounting of exchange. An approach to justice and inequality which embeds exchange within multiple dimensions of economy and society is needed; the latter part of this article traces such a socially situated approach.