THE HUMAN PERSON

AND SOCIETY
Part I: The Person and Society
Social Nature of Human Beings
Society
Authority
Common Good
Society and the human person’s transcendent dimension
Part II: Plato’s Idea of Society
Plato’s Idea of Human Nature
Plato’s Ideal Society

OUTLINE
God did not create man as a “solitary
being,” but wanted him to be a “social
being” (cf. Gen 1:27; 2:18-20, 23). Life in
society is not something “added-on” for
the human person; it stems from an
important dimension intrinsic to human
nature.

1. SOCIAL NATURE OF
HUMAN BEINGS
Therefore each person “is
called to exist ‘for’ others,
to become a gift.” Existing
“for” others entails much
more than just
“co-existing” with them: it
means serving them and
loving them.
A personal and collective effort is needed
to develop social relationships correctly.
The person’s social nature is not limited to
political and commercial aspects; the
relationships based on the most deeply
human aspects of the person, especially the
spiritual ones, are much more important for
the correct building up of society.
 2. SOCIETY
The social nature of the human being finds
expression in the setting up of a variety of
associations aimed at attaining distinct goals: “A
society is a group of persons bound together
organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond
each one of them.” Many different human goals
exist, as well as bonds that unite people: love,
ethnicity, language, country, culture, etc. Therefore
human relationships entail a wide mosaic of
institutions and associations: the family, city, state,
international community, etc.
3. AUTHORITY
“Every human community needs an
authority to govern it. The
foundation of such authority lies in
human nature. It is necessary for the
unity of the state. Its role is to
ensure as far as possible the
common good of the society.”
 4. THE COMMON
GOOD
The common good can be defined as “the
sum total of social conditions which allow
people, either as groups or as individuals, to
reach their fulfillment more fully and more
easily.” Therefore the common good is not
only a matter of material well-being but also
spiritual (the two are inter-connected), and
entails “three essential elements” (Catechism,
1906):
—respecting the human person and his
or her freedom; —furthering social
progress and integral human
development; —fostering “peace, that
is, the stability and security of a just
order” (Catechism, 1909).
5. SOCIETY AND THE
HUMAN PERSON’S
TRANSCENDENT DIMENSION
The deepest truth about the
person, and the ground of
all human dignity, is being
created in the image and
likeness of God and called
to communion with Him.
PLATO’S
IDEA OF
SOCIETY
There are people who keep on
accumulating more and more wealth
and there are those who are so
attached to political positions. How
do you explain this human obsession
for wealth and power?

ENTRY POINT
 A. PLATO’S IDEA
OF HUMAN
NATURE
A human person,
according to Plato, has a
soul which is composed
of three parts, namely:
the appetitive, the
spirited, and the rational.
THE APPETITIVE PART IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
PERSON’S NEED FOR
NOURISHMENT AND
REPRODUCTION.
The spirited part is
responsible for the
person’s emotion,
passion, and will
power.
The rational part
is responsible for
the person’s
thinking.
While each part of the soul is indispensable to
human existence, the rational part, according
to Plato, is the highest and is supposed to
govern both the appetitive and the spirited
parts. Reason should tame the appetite and
guide the spirit in order to produce a
harmonious personality.
 No one should be thrown
away; everyone should be
placed where he/she is best fit.
The first problem is to
B. PLATO’S determine who among the
IDEAL people belong to the
SOCIETY desire-driven, to the
power-driven, and to the
wisdom-seekers.
According to Plato, there is no better way to
classify people and to determine their social
position except through education. This means
that people will occupy their social positions
according to their educational qualifications.
This means that all will undergo education in
order to determine the positions they are best fit
in the society. This mode of classification of the
people is democratic in the sense that everyone
is given equal opportunity to hold social
positions.
This is a just society for Plato, a society wherein
all can be said to be educated in varying
degrees in accordance with which they occupy
social positions: the wise men govern, the
soldiers protect, and the workers provide the
economic needs of the society. Only when
people are positioned in this way, according to
Plato, that the society can become harmonious
and well-coordinated, and hence, just.