"Theology, Anthropology, and Economics"

The importance of "moral anthropology" for the enterprise of law is a theme that many of us, including me, have returned to time and again (and again and again) here at MOJ.  (It was the subject of one of my very first posts, nearly ten years ago!).  Over at Public Discourse, Nathaniel Peters has a book review, "Theology, Anthropology, and Economics" that puts this theme at center stage.  

He is reviewing "Papal Economics:  The Catholic Church on Democratic Capitalism from Rerum Novarum to Caritas en Veritate", by Maciej Zieba (link).  Here is an excerpt from the review:

[T]he true measure of a government is whether it respects the rights of its citizens and cares for their needs. A healthy democracy, Zieba argues, must be founded on right anthropology. Five truths in particular serve as an “anthropological minimum”: the certitude that the actors in society are equal; the conviction that the majority of people will behave rationally; the conviction that people are prepared to distinguish good from bad, and that the majority is apt to choose the good; the pursuit of the common good as theraison d’être of the political community; and generosity toward minority groups.

In other words, “the foundation of liberal democracy is something that liberal democracy itself cannot guarantee.” It is the truth, particularly the truth about human nature, that provides the foundation for freedom and justice, which must be oriented toward what is truly good and human. A free economy, a just government, and a sound moral culture serve as the three pillars of a flourishing society. All of them, in turn, must be founded on and reflect sound anthropology.