Simply I learned about her, and ungrudgingly do I share — her riches I do not hide away

– Old Testament, The Book of Wisdom 7,13

I’m slowly starting to prepare an intervention on how peer to peer dynamics (“par cum pari“) may be related to the principle of subsidiarity as favoured by the social doctrine of the church.

The conference is entitled “Pursuing the Common Good: How Solidarity and Subsidiarity Can Work Together“. It is organized on May 2 to 6th at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

I have started to collate resources under the tag Vatican Project. You will find there documents and ‘position papers’ such as the one on Ethics and the Internet, the document on media entitled Communio et Progressio.

In the process, I’m discovering interesting initiatives as well. For example, Marco Fioretti, who has written an article for Linux Magazine examining how the ethics of the free software movement are so closely related to Catholics (here), which was the catalyst for the project Eleutheros, which aims to develop more thoroughly a Catholic approach to information technology and computing. So it is perhaps no accident that the Vatican uses Linux.

As I’m familiarizing myself with the documents of the Catholic Church, I am already favourably impressed by the priority it posits on civil society, and hence, the congruence with the peer to peer ethics of favouring the direct creation of social value by civil society. It is worth reading in full the subsidiarity principle, which I have no problem in endorsing, so I’m posting this excerpt from the Compendium to the Social Doctrine of the Church in full:

What is Subsidiarity?

“a. Value of civil society

417. The political community is established to be of service to civil society, from which it originates. The Church has contributed to the distinction between the political community and civil society above all by her vision of man, understood as an autonomous, relational being who is open to the Transcendent. This vision is challenged by political ideologies of an individualistic nature and those of a totalitarian character, which tend to absorb civil society into the sphere of the State. The Church’s commitment on behalf of social pluralism aims at bringing about a more fitting attainment of the common good and democracy itself, according to the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity and justice.

Civil society is the sum of relationships and resources, cultural and associative, that are relatively independent from the political sphere and the economic sector. “The purpose of civil society is universal, since it concerns the common good, to which each and every citizen has a right in due proportion”.[853] This is marked by a planning capacity that aims at fostering a freer and more just social life, in which the various groups of citizens can form associations, working to develop and express their preferences, in order to meet their fundamental needs and defend their legitimate interests.

b. Priority of civil society

418. The political community and civil society, although mutually connected and interdependent, are not equal in the hierarchy of ends. The political community is essentially at the service of civil society and, in the final analysis, the persons and groups of which civil society is composed.[854] Civil society, therefore, cannot be considered an extension or a changing component of the political community; rather, it has priority because it is in civil society itself that the political community finds its justification.

The State must provide an adequate legal framework for social subjects to engage freely in their different activities and it must be ready to intervene, when necessary and with respect for the principle of subsidiarity, so that the interplay between free associations and democratic life may be directed to the common good. Civil society is in fact multifaceted and irregular; it does not lack its ambiguities and contradictions. It is also the arena where different interests clash with one another, with the risk that the stronger will prevail over the weaker.

c. Application of the principle of subsidiarity

419. The political community is responsible for regulating its relations with civil society according to the principle of subsidiarity.[855] It is essential that the growth of democratic life begin within the fabric of society. The activities of civil society — above all volunteer organizations and cooperative endeavours in the private-social sector, all of which are succinctly known as the “third sector”, to distinquish from the State and the market — represent the most appropriate ways to develop the social dimension of the person, who finds in these activities the necessary space to express himself fully. The progressive expansion of social initiatives beyond the State- controlled sphere creates new areas for the active presence and direct action of citizens, integrating the functions of the State. This important phenomenon has often come about largely through informal means and has given rise to new and positive ways of exercising personal rights, which have brought about a qualitative enrichment of democratic life.

420. Cooperation, even in its less structured forms, shows itself to be one of the most effective responses to a mentality of conflict and unlimited competition that seems so prevalent today. The relationships that are established in a climate of cooperation and solidarity overcome ideological divisions, prompting people to seek out what unites them rather than what divides them.

Many experiences of volunteer work are examples of great value that call people to look upon civil society as a place where it is possible to rebuild a public ethic based on solidarity, concrete cooperation and fraternal dialogue. All are called to look with confidence to the potentialities that thus present themselves and to lend their own personal efforts for the good of the community in general and, in particular, for the good of the weakest and the neediest. In this way, the principle of the “subjectivity of society” is also affirmed.”

END OF QUOTE

If any of our readers have any material on how the values of spiritual traditions may echo peer to peer ethics, many thanks for sending them through, and we will use it to update our special wiki section on P2P Spirituality.