Ethics and the National Economy was written by Jesuit Fr. Heinrich Pesch in 1917 as part of a symposium of Catholic thinkers on the problem of Christian Natural and International Law. His contribution stresses a truth which is as fundamental as it is today neglected: that morality must govern economic life. Taking apart the various aspects of economic activity, Fr. Pesch throws the light of the Moral Law on such topics as the manufacture of material goods, exchange of goods, remuneration and wages, justice in pricing, and—of course—he looks at what he calls the two “absurd consequences” of the individualist, free-market school of thought: Capitalism and Socialism. As greatest of philosopher-economists, whose “Solidarism,” introduced concisely and accessibly in this volume, is based upon the classical and Christian understanding of man and socio-economic life, rooted in the teaching of Aristotle and perfected by St. Thomas Aquinas, Pesch builds his thesis on solid philosophical—and ultimately, impregnable—grounds.
Foreword —The Publishers
Introduction to the Second Edition —Dr. Rupert Ederer
Introduction to the First Edition —Dr. Rupert Ederer
Preface —Heinrich Pesch, S.J.
Introduction —Heinrich Pesch, S.J.
I. Economic Life and Life in Society
II. The State and the National Economy: The Purpose and Unity of the National Economy
III. Human Wants and the Econom
IV. Work and the Worker
V. Ownership and the Acquisition of Material Goods
VI. Justice in Pricing and in Income Determination
VII. Justice and the Harmony of Interests
VIII. Objections Raised Against Christian Ethics
IX. Testimony By Economists In Support Of Christian Ethics
X. Ethics and Economics
XI. Capitalism and Socialism
XII. The Economics of the Future
