La dignidad de la persona humana en la doctrina de la iglesiacatólica (análisis de un tópico)

Abstract

The reference to the «dignity of the human person» is one of the conditioners which characterise the so-called «signs of the times-o Although it is true that the concept and reality expressed by these words -.dignity of the human person-have in the past been kept in mind, it is nontheless proper of this present age in which we live to make an explicit and direct reflection upon them. The reference to the concept of human dignity appears in many modern Declarations of Human Rights, in numerous State Constitutions, and in different international Pacts and Conventions. It also appears in the «Fuero de los Españoles» approved on July 17th, 1945: .The State proclaims as a guiding principie of action the respect of the dignity of the human person-. Scholars, philosophers and jurists have also put forth their doctrine with regard to the problem at hand. The Church, for its part, exalts the dignity of the human person in many documents, seeking and expressing its foundation in order to extract the practical consequences which derive from it. The consensus with regard to the expression .dignity of the human persondoes not imply, however, a corresponding unity in terms of explaining the meaning contained therein. We cannot forget that words which are identical from a merely phonetical point of view have a very distinct meaning at the semantical level, depending upon the mentality of the person speaking them. This diversity stems from the very diversity -and contradiction even- of existing opinions with regard to the nature of man, as Vatican Council 11 has pointed out. To the question, «What is man?-, the different anthropological sciences all give different answers, which manifest themselves in conformity with the underlying philosophical thought proper to these sciences, and of which they are also a reflection and expression. Worthy of mention, among others, are the following anthropological approaches: Rationalistic, SCientifistic, Materialistic, Psychologistic, Behaviouristic, those proper to Logical Neo-positivism, Existentialism, and Idealistic Monism. Worthy of special mention also is the Christian-Catholic Anthropology, which discovers and manifests in man a double dimension: al a natural dimensión, and bl a supernatural dimensión. Both these dimensions are contempleted by the contemporary Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The dignity of man in its natural dimension, according to the Magisterium of the Church, is determined on one hand by reason of man's divine origin, and on the other, by reason of man's very being and nature. This being and nature are exalted by the Magisterium which sees in man's corporeal condition a synthesis of the material universe, and which contemplates in man's spiritual condition the magnificence of life, Intelligence and free will. It should be pointed out that man's natural dignity is not constituted by the mere sum of independent values -body and soul- but rather by his very existential reality, wherein man is a double being at the same time as he is a single being: a soul incarnated or a body spiritualised by the soul. The supernatural dimension of man -which is unknown to vast sectors of thought- is based on the elevation of man to the supernatural order in which he beco mes a participant of divine nature and of divine dignity, and receives a destiny which far surpasses the end towards which he would have been destined naturally.The ordaining of human life and of human activities must be carried out in conformity with the nature and dignity of mano The ordaining of human life by the State and by civil society contemplates the temporal common good in a direct manner, without refraining for this reason from favouring the exigencies of the spiritual and supernatural order which correspond to man according to his most sublime dimensiono The orientation which each person gives to his lite through responsible and conscious decision must primarily be in agreement with his true dignity, that is with supernatural dignity, which corresponds to him in the concrete historical order wanted by God. To the Church and its Hierarchy -which are a continuation of Christ's mission in the world- there al so corresponds responsibility at the hour of ordaining man's Iife, and that of Christians more concretely. The Roman Pontiff, at the same time as he warns against certain «temporalisms» in vogue today, sets the example at the hour of orienting all human activities, keeping in mind at all times man's supernatural elevation, which is revealed and communicated through divine designo