Building laws of society

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Building Laws of the Society is a socio-philosophical work by Oswald von Nell-Breuning published in 1968.

In it, Nell-Breuning deals with the doctrine of the solidarity and subsidiarity principles of Catholic social teaching . The text is a revision of the theses formulated a few years earlier - together with Franz Prinz - in the work letters of the Munich work group of Christian workers .

The importance of the work is v. a. in the specification of the two basic principles of Catholic social teaching - those already described by Heinrich Pesch , Gustav Gundlach , Pius XI. and John XXIII. were formulated - and the description of their practical application to the social institutions family, economy, church and state.

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For Nell-Breuning, the solidarity and subsidiarity principles are the “building laws of human society”, according to which social order is to be established through concrete political action. They are not only ethical and legal principles, but “principles of being, i. that is, they are directly rooted in what man is essentially ”(p. 114).

According to Nell-Breuning, the solidarity principle is based on the reciprocal relationship between person and community, which is based on the social nature of the person . It establishes and regulates the mutual obligations of the individual and the community. Each individual is responsible for the good of the whole, but conversely, the community is tied back to the person and bears responsibility for each of its members:

So everyone in the community is responsible for the welfare and woe of the community and has to take responsibility for it. Even if the offices, the services to be provided and the duties to be fulfilled are distributed according to a certain order among the various members depending on their capabilities, etc., each member is liable for the good of the community as a joint and several debtor [...] Conversely, the community is liable for each one. Only this mutual relationship and liability makes solidarity perfect (p. 16f.).

The subsidiarity principle, on the other hand, states that every social institution is “subsidiary”, i.e. i.e., must be supportive and assisting. The superordinate state and social institutions may only take over the tasks of the subordinate social institutions if their own resources are insufficient:

The superordinate or comprehensive community is to provide its member communities with helpful assistance in what these, on their own, are unable to do on their own. what the member communities can do themselves, on the other hand, must not be taken from them by the superordinate or comprehensive community (p. 83)

Against the background of these two principles, Nell-Breuning turns against communist notions of order of society and economy, which subordinate the individual to the social whole, as well as against economic liberalism , which degrades the community to the mere function of the individual and every responsibility of society for the individual deny.

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  • Building laws of society. Solidarity and Subsidiarity , Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna, through. New edition 1990, ISBN 3-451-21818-6

literature