LAW 6053 :
Law Politics and Human Nature

Over the last century and a half, the Catholic tradition has developed a body of thought that responds to the social questions presented by the modern world. In days gone by, the Church's most burning questions concerned the dogmas of theology; today, in a radically changed and constantly changing and threatening world, the Church must, for the good of Catholics and of all peoples, concern herself with questions concerning individualism, totalitarianism, statism, legal positivism, human rights, and social justice. Course topics will include the nature of the state, the state's relationship to political society and to other societies, the relationship of the state to the Catholic Church and to other churches, social justice and social charity, pluralism, subsidiarity, authority, natural law, natural rights, democracy, and culture. The course will emphasize the ways in which the body of Catholic social thought is neither liberal nor conservative, at least as those terms are usually understood.