UNCC100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Raw Image Format, Catholic Social Teaching, Rerum Novarum
22 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
I am because we are - Individual and Society
Graduate Attribute 1: demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual
and for human diversity
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Graduate Attribute 2: recognise your responsibility to the common good, the
environment and society
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Graduate Attribute 4: think critically and reflectively
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Graduate Attribute 7: work both autonomously and collaboratively
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Graduate Attribute 8: locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate
information
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Graduate Attribute 9: demonstrate effective communication in oral and
written English language and visual media
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Happy days: virtue isn't just for sanctimonious do-gooders
Aristotle writes that we are essentially social, political and moral creatures
because we live in a society and our behaviour affects one another.
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suggests the wellbeing of the individual is linked to the place in which they live
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Good moral character is developed by practising the virtues, which are mid-
point between excessive or deficient behaviour
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courage is a virtue as it is mid-point between rashness (excessive) and
cowardice (deficient).
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Ubuntu - "I am what I am becaues of who we all are"
there exists a common bond between us all and it is through this bond, through
our interaction with our fellow human beings, that we discover our own human
qualities.
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A person with Ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to
share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable,
affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for
they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a
greater whole.
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2.2.2 Reflecting on Ubuntu and the Golden rule
Catholic Social thought and human rights
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Roman Catholic Church leading proponents of human rights in worl today
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Speaking for those whom are poor and defenseless
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Albania in September 2014, Pope Francis denounced any group
that would take “actions against human dignity and against the
fundamental rights of every man and woman, above all to the right
to life and the right of everyone to religious freedom (Guardian
2014).
○The concern of human rights is central to Catholic Social Teaching and
plays an important role in the actions taken by Church
○Human rights occurred after the creation of Catholic liberalism
○Shupack (1999: 127) writes: “Human rights first came into modern
Catholic Church social teaching” with Rerum Novarum.
○Rerum Novarum marked the Church’s “awakening” to the problems of
industrialization.
○The Catholic tradition of human rights, as it has emerged during the past
four decades, rests on several distinct principles. Among those that
generate the sharpest points of contrast are:
1. Human Rights are Teleological; Human rights exist not so that
people may pursue private goals, but in order that they might
move towards truth, faith, and the proper ends of life (Elshtain
1999: 53–65). The just society is one in which freedom is restrained
by, and oriented towards, particular moral ends.
2. Human Rights are Understood Theologically; Human rights
are related to the drama of salvation. Bryan Hehir (1996:106)
writes: “The engagement of the church in the struggle for
human rights is not only a moral and political task; it is part of
the work of preparing a new heaven and a new earth.”
3. Human Rights Emerge from Human Dignity; The Catholic
defense of human rights is primarily grounded in an account
of human nature. As John XXIII stated in Pacem in Terris: “Any
well-regulated and productive association of men in society
demands the acceptance of one fundamental principle: that
each individual man is truly a person. His is a nature, that is,
endowed with intelligence and free will. As such he has rights
and duties, which together flow as a direct consequence from
his nature. These rights and duties are universal and
inviolable, and therefore altogether inalienable.”
4. Human Rights are Communal; The Catholic tradition
emphasizes that rights exist not just to protect the individual
but to foster the flourishing of the common good. Full
personhood can be achieved only through self-donation to
others.
□This principle is clearest in the Catholic human rights
tradition that deals directly with social and economic
life. The principle behind the “universal destination of
goods” is that the earth was given by God to all people,
and it is our responsibility, therefore, to share the goods
created from the earth.
5. Protection of Human Rights is Inseparable from Advancing
the Culture of Life Catholic thought about human rights has
firmly rejected abortion, euthanasia, and family planning as
inconsistent with a proper conception of human rights and
human freedom. This connection was explored most fully in
John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of
Life).
□The Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life as a
human rights issue do not stand in isolation. They are
connected both to theological principles and to every
other human rights concern.
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2.3 Relationship between individual and society
2.3.1 Relationship with the common good - example access to water
-Assess to clean water is a 'common good' - all living things need water to
survive
-Governments duty of care to provide clean water
-Ubuntu describes being human by relationships with each other
○In recent times extended drought, realisation water is precious. State
governments froced to make restiritions in interest of common good.
People that ignore the restiritions failed in their duty to act for the
common good
2.3.2 Catholic Social Thought and the Individual
-Person is social
-"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", has an individual
dimension, but it also requires a broader social commitment to the 'Common
Good'.
-Everyone obligation to contribute to the good of the whole society, to the
common good
Module 2
Document Summary
I am because we are - individual and society. Graduate attribute 1: demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity. Graduate attribute 2: recognise your responsibility to the common good, the environment and society. Graduate attribute 7: work both autonomously and collaboratively. Graduate attribute 8: locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information. Graduate attribute 9: demonstrate effective communication in oral and written english language and visual media. Happy days: virtue isn"t just for sanctimonious do-gooders. Aristotle writes that we are essentially social, political and moral creatures because we live in a society and our behaviour affects one another. suggests the wellbeing of the individual is linked to the place in which they live. Good moral character is developed by practising the virtues, which are mid- point between excessive or deficient behaviour courage is a virtue as it is mid-point between rashness (excessive) and cowardice (deficient).
