Ariadne's Thread on Ethical
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  Ayesha Speaking

Current Speaker I want to agree with John's perspective. The problem with Dee's view is that it creates really strong property rights that are not limited by enough moral constraints.

I have been impressed by Catholic social thought for a long time, and I want to introduce the notion of 'stewardship' here. Property is not a bad thing, but it is best to think of it as limited by the obligations of stewardship. Those who have property have obligations to other people and to society as a whole. As Pope Leo XIII wrote, he who has received many material blessings "has received them for the purpose of using them for the perfecting of his own nature, and, at the same time, that he may employ them, as the steward of God's providence, for the benefit of others." (Rerum Novarum, 22)

Libertarians forget that. Or it might be better to say that they simply leave it out of their equations. Of course, libertarians believe in charity, and that's a good thing. But the obligations of charity are not the same as the obligations of stewardship. That's what they are missing.



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