My dogmatic slumber
I really thought
common sense was sufficient to explain why workers have a basic right to
organize into unions. The papal encyclicals point to the “dignity of man” as
the core reason. During a discussion
group I mentioned this and expected the usual silent glassy eyed response, but
I was immediately and strongly challenged by a university professor of
anthropology. He shouted, “what about the squirrels – don’t
they have dignity?” He went on, “one of
those encyclicals says that a living wage means that a worker should have money
to get a beer after his shift.” “Thank
God we don’t get that crap at our Church.”
I was stunned; I couldn’t respond except to say, “Let’s get back to
common sense.” Was it simply an upper
class academic dismissal of those beneath their status? But then again, what about women, “dignity of
man” is an evolving concept even in the social encyclicals.
Class conflict is
just there, but preaching without using common sense has a long varied history. A serious challenge to common sense is
highlighted by the troubles of Peterless Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142) in the 12th
century.
Abelard’s fame in
history is mostly related to an illicit affair with his student Eloise. Pete paid the price for the affair since in
the middle ages a simple cover up was not sufficient. However, Peterless Pete’s important question:
was not, as the romantics think, “Eloise what are you doing tonight?” but, as
logicians think, “How can we use universals?”
If universals are just of the mind and not reality, they can mean
whatever we want them to mean. Peterless
Pete thought he solved the problem, but St. Bernard (1090 - 1153) thought Pete’s
logic misinterpreted the Trinity, declared Pete a heretic, and refused to
rescue him.
Common sense made a
comeback in 13th century with Adequate Tom Aquino (St. Thomas
Aquinas, 1225 - 1274). With help from Jewish and Muslim philosophers
(Averoes, 1126 - 1198, Maimonedes, 1135 – 1204), Adequate Tom referred back to the
ancient Greeks and restored confidence in human reason. But in the 14th century, Wild Bill
Ockham (William of Ockham, 1288 - 1347) took his razor to Aristotelian Adequate
Tom and severed the “possible” and “agent” faculties from the intellect making
it impossible to produce certain conclusions.
Again, is the razor a better answer than the cover up? But obviously mistakes can be made.
The “dignity of man,”
does the concept have a basis in reality?
Does the concept imply that workers have the right to organize? President Lincoln faced a similar
problem. The Declaration of Independence
states that all are equal yet the institution of slavery was sanctioned by the
Constitution. In the next posting we
will consider Lincoln’s reasoning. Comments
and suggestions are appreciated. Email
wjlange@sbcglobal.net
