Integral Humanism as a Political Proposal
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Por: José Gómez Cerda | Fuente: Catholic.net

 
Some philosophers defend man, from a materialistic standpoint, others from popular capitalism. 
Integral Humanism as a Political Proposal 
 
The basis of INTEGRAL HUMANISM is the Christian conception of life; the supremacy of the HUMAN PERSON and his references to spiritual and moral values. 

 
There are various expressions of Humanism. Some philosophers defend man, from a materialistic point of view, others from popular capitalism; however, here we want to present a different type of humanism, the "INTEGRAL HUMANISM" that has had its greatest exponent in Jacques Maritain.
 
The basis of INTEGRAL HUMANISM is the Christian conception of life; the supremacy of the HUMAN PERSON and its references to spiritual and moral values. 
 
"INTEGRAL HUMANISM” is one of the greatest works of Jacques Maritain, which served for the action of many people and political and social organizations, and the ordering of thought. 
 
«The awakening of the Christian conscience and the strictly temporal, social and political problems, involved in the restoration of a NEW CHRISTIANITY, will bring with it the birth of new political forms specific to the birth of inspiration intrinsically Christian”.
 
The fundamentals raised by Jacques Maritain on Integral Humanism served as a basis to launch social and political movements in various countries, especially in Latin America. 
 
"INTEGRAL HUMANISM" became a model, a school of formation, commitment and life, for its valuable contribution in the responsibilities that laic people must assume in the various activities, with a defined content: Social Christianity. 
 
Integral Humanism is a political project, called "CONCRETE HISTORICAL IDEAL OF A NEW CHRISTIANITY", it is a Christian conception at three levels: 
 
Community. Personalist. Pluralistic. 
 
COMMUNITY: Because it has the common good as the supreme demand of human nature. It is different from the simple sum of private goods and superior to individual goods.
 
PERSONALIST: Seeks perfection and freedom, that man can develop the degrees of life in the material, intellectual and moral. 
PLURALIST: It is based on the spirit of diversity and freedom. 
 
It proposes freedom to the different communities and the various social bodies, starting from the family as the fundamental basis of society. The idea of Integral Humanism managed to have sympathizers in various countries. Movements like "ECONOMY AND HUMANISM", founded by Father Joseph LEBRET, in France, were based on the thought of Maritain. 
 
In his work "INTEGRAL HUMANISM ", the author deals with: Heroism and Humanism; the tragedy of the new Christianity, Christianity in the World, the historical ideal of a new Christianity, of a Closer Future and the Structure of Action. 
 
To Maritain, the action of the laics is decisive for Christianity. According to him, the plans of the Magisterium of the Church in the life of men are expressed through:
 
THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT
, which comprehends human existence in the light of Eternity, universal principles and values, the primacy of the spiritual over the material, and faith. 
 
THE SOCIAL ORDER, which is given from the Gospel. The doctrine refers to the social issue, expressed in social encyclicals, and other documents on social issues. 
 
LAIC INTERPRETATION OF SOCIAL FACTS, which includes thought and action when they are confronted with the reality of the environment. 
 
They are questions subject to the judgment of reason, analysis, and interpretation of reality, having as reference for confrontation the Christian principles and values. 
 
"The political knowledge constitutes a branch of moral knowledge, not the one concerning the individual, nor the one which concerns domestic society, but precisely the one which concerns in a specific way to the good of men gathered in society, the good of the social whole.
 
That good is essentially human and therefore is measured first of all about the purposes of the human being. It is incompatible with any intrinsically bad means”. 
 
Integral Humanism, as a political project is currently valid, it is a model of conduct and action, which has worked in many sectors and realities. It can give a correct interpretation of social and political activity, with viable solutions. 
 
The Concrete Historical Ideal of a New Society must be made with men renewed in thought and action, which have commitments with the most humble and defenseless sectors of society, which is the preference for the poor, as the Gospel indicates. 
 
This reality must serve to build a new society, more fair and humane, with human resources ready to elaborate concrete plans to design and build that new society.
"Developing a social, political and economic philosophy cannot be left only in universal principles; it must be able to descend to the concrete realizations." 
 
Maritain proposes in "INTEGRAL HUMANISM" that the new temporal regime of modern Christendom must overcome ANTROPOCENTRIC HUMANISM, where man is the center of the same man, who has a concept of man and freedom, which on many occasions has given origin to atheism; by a TEOCENTRIC HUMANISM where God is the center of man, recognizing that man is redeemed by God, and where the principles of grace and freedom are. 
 
This new Humanism is based on principles, with the autonomy of the temporal regime; it is a laic state, within pluralism. To achieve this, it is necessary to develop a SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PHILOSOPHY, which does not remain in universal principles, but in concrete realizations: a Community and Personalist Philosophy. 
 
To participate in politics it is necessary to know that science, art, and technique. That is what political knowledge demands. 
 
"It will be necessary to respond to what could be called INTEGRAL HUMANISM OR TEOCENTRIC, valid for itself from now on.
 
The discerned idea is that in the supernatural world, as a star of this humanism-without pretending to drop that star on the Earth as if it was something of this world that could find in it the common life of men, but refracting in the earthly environment and sinner of the social-temporal, orienting it up, it will not be the idea of the sacred empire that God possesses about things: it will rather be the idea of the holy freedom of the creature, united to God by grace...» 
 
The new Christianity, raised by Maritain, gives laics a great responsibility to disseminate and apply these principles, within the political society, which is the construction of a society based on humanist principles and values. 
 
"Because the depositories of this Christian conception will have had enough spiritual energy, political strength and prudence to peacefully show men capable of understanding it, that such conception is according to the healthy reason and the common good; and also (because few are the men capable of understanding it), to arouse and deserve the trust of others. ' 
 
These documents can serve as a source of inspiration for politicians, labor unionists, social workers and all those who wish to be militants of social Christianity. This humble contribution is an effort to equip those who seek an expression for their social work, of a doctrine based on HUMANISM, which is a PROJECT OF NEW SOCIETY. 
 
The spirit the book "Elements of Integral Humanism" seeks is to gather various characters who have left deep traces of being Christians militant in different ages and countries, examples given in the political, religious, intellectual, social and professional life. 
Now and here we want to hear again those voices, which are valid and current. Give life to their thoughts and actions. For that, we will give the word to their authors, so that in many cases they are themselves who expose their ideas and criteria. 
 
Ozanam, Lacordaire, Cardijn, Bloy, Maritain, Ketteler, De Atahyde, Adenauer, Hurtado, La Pira, Calvani, Emilio Máspero and others, must be leaders of the popular domain.
 
A social responsibility makes us seek in the recent history of social Christianity to see clearly the panorama, to be able to analyze and interpret it in the light of these thoughts; this way, we will be able to organize the past according to the present, clarifying the destiny of man and the evolution of society.