THE PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT
Volume 6
Rights in Civil Society
The preceding five volumes of the English translation of Rosmini's The Philosophy of Right have dealt with the essence of right (vol. 1), individual rights (vol. 2), the principles underlying social right (vol. 3) and the application of these principles to theocratic society (the Church, vol. 4) and to domestic society (the family, vol. 5). In this sixth and final volume, Rosmini applies the same principles to civil society, the third and last of the great societies necessary for `the perfect organisation of mankind', the kind of society which is the inevitable consequence of even minimal development as mankind increases in number and exercises its native talents.
Rosmini's aim is to show how civil society, in all its principal manifestations, is related to right, and dependent on the appropriate exercise of rights for its well-being and progress. To achieve his purpose, he deals first with the man-made nature of civil society. Of particular importance here is his insistence on the good which determines the essence of this society, the sole purpose of which is to regulate the exercise of family rights in such a way that no family is a nuisance or encumbrance to others.
`All this,' Rosmini claims, `is achieved by disposing adequately the modality of the rights of all.' With this fundamental affirmation, he rejects in a single sentence every theory giving rise to a totalitarian State as the source and bestower of rights, and every assertion that rights can be exercised irrespective of the consequences to the well-being of others.
The `modality of rights' refers, for Rosmini, to the exercise of rights, not to rights themselves. Rights, whether vested in an individual, in the true Church or in the family, are inviolable; the exercise of rights may be regulated, given certain conditions, by civil society which exists for that very purpose. But civil society must never damage the individual person, nor the collective persons formed by Church and family, which precede civil society. The form, laws and activity of civil society serve solely to ensure the good of these persons; the aim of civil society is achieved when all persons are enabled, through the activity proper to civil society, to exercise more perfectly the rights which are their due. While the good which is the object of right is unchangeable, the form which that good takes is, if separable from the good itself, subject to reasonable modification by civil society.
An essential element of the philosophy of right is to state the universal conditions according to which civil society should undertake this immense and daunting task of regulating the exercise of rights.
These conditions will inevitably be influenced by the origin of civil societies which, for Rosmini, goes hand in hand with the growth of government in the assembly of families that make up such a society. The origin of different forms of government — monarchic, aristocratic, democratic — explain the diversity of civil societies found in history. Each expression of government will have its value according to circumstances; each will be worthy of those circumstances only if it regulates all its activity with the highest regard for justice, both distributive and commutative. Civil society is not the fount of morality or right; it is subject to them in its activity, and clearly confined by the limits they impose.
Chief amongst the human needs giving rise to civil society is the interior perfection, satisfaction and peace of the human spirit. There will be no lasting cohesion within any civil society which ignores this need. On the other hand, gradual fulfilment of this need provides the necessary stimulus to the removal of family and national selfishness, which blocks the development of the brotherhood of mankind and its concomitant benefit of universal civil society. In Europe, we have already seen the fusion of family and social elements worked out through three thousand years of history. The vital role of the Christian Church in the past development of European nations will be re-enacted as it plays its non-political part in a new European union, and beyond that in the world union for which mankind is surely destined.
In the final sections of this work, the profundity of Rosmini's philosophical principles is equalled by the depth of his analysis of sources of injustice in the civil body, of the nature and activity of organisms in civil society, and of sanctions enforcing civil ordinances. In dealing with these issues, he offers acute reflections on subjects which extend from the need for a free press to the purpose of penal sanctions, material force and public opinion. Finally, he considers the better construction of civil society through the practice of justice, through the principle of balance, as he calls it, and through the social inequalities dependent on nature. From this point of view alone, without taking account of more general principles, this volume is, after a century and a half, of great relevance to modern theory and practice in the field of civic activity.
| DENIS CLEARY July, 1996 |