The Social Question Is Radically an Anthropological Question: The Perspective of Caritas in Veritate

Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 16, Number 1 (Spring 2013): 85–99 Copyright © 2013

Antoine Suarez Director, Center for Quantum Philosophy Zürich, Switzerland

The encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate stresses that bioethics is a crucial part of Catholic social teaching because in this field “the very possibility of integral human development is radically called into question.” In this context, the encyclical states that the social question is a radically anthropological question. This article takes this view and shows that the very essence of the social teaching of the popes since the nineteenth century is the principle that the human person and her fundamental rights are defined by her belonging to the human species. The denial of this principle characterizes the individualistic ontology proper to “classical liberalism,” and lies at the origin of the tensions between the Magisterium and the liberal position. To imbue present culture with the spirit of the gospel and achieve integral human development, it is crucial to embed the economic and political principles of liberalism in a relational ontology that assumes the human species as the very basis for defining personhood and rights.

Are the Laws of Economics Compatible with Free Will?

Luís Cabral. IESE Business School

I argue that determinism at the aggregate level of economic behavior is compatible with uncertainty at the individual level; and that the latter results essentially from individual free will.

Creación de riqueza, derecho y la cuestión de la finalidad de la economía

Luis Cabral (Londres), Antoine Suarez (Zurich), Febrero 1998

Este paper persigue dos fines: (1) Argumentar en favor de una teoría económica (Economics) fundada sobre el principio de creación de riqueza, si bien reconociendo la importancia la ley de la escasez de recursos. (2) Tratar de definir de modo más claro la finalidad de la ciencia económica, precisando que la creación de riqueza se orienta al beneficio de la entera especie homo sapiens.