Justice as Virtue in an Economic Context By Diego Alonso-Lasheras BRILL LEIDEN o BOSTON 2011
Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 Chapter One. The Birth of a New World: Economics and Theology in the Sixteenth Century 11 1. Introduction 11 2. Luis de Molina 11 3. The Birth of a New Economy 14 3.1. The Shifting Center of Gravity 14 3.2. Manufactures, Trade and the Curse of Gold 15 3.3. New Financial Instruments: Companies, Bills of Exchange and Lending 18 3.4. A Pious Merchant Class 20 3.5. The Economic Consequences of Imperial Destiny 22 4. A New Science for a New World 24 4.1. Mariners, Conquistadors and Missionaries and the Importance of Doing 25 4.2. The Importance of Doing 25 4.3. The Impact of the Movable Type 27 4.4. Coping with Change and the Changing Paradigm of Science 28 5. Moral Theology in Sixteenth-Century Spain and Portugal 30 5.1. Francisco de Vitoria and Aquinas' Return 31 5.2. Nominalism and its Fruits in Ethics 34 5.3. Probabilism: Different Kinds of Knowledge and Recta Ratio 38 5.3.1. Science, Faith, Opinion, Doubt and Scruples 38 5.3.2. Probabilism 41 6. The Problems of Divine Grace 43 6.1. The Theological Controversies regarding Grace 43 6.2. The Political Dimension of Divine Grace 46 7. The Concordia 47 7.1. The Theological Problem: The Common Ground of Banezians and Molinists 48
VIII 7.2. Molinism 49 7.2.1. Indeterminism 49 7.2.2. Triplex est sciencia in Deo 50 7.3. Consequences for Moral Theology 52 Chapter Two. Molina's Fundamental Moral Theology 53 1. Introduction 53 2. De Iustitia et lure 53 2.1. Genesis of the Book: Teaching Methods and New Literary Genres 53 2.2. Structure and Method 57 2.2.1. Structure of the Book 57 2.2.2. Structure of a Disputation 58 2.2.3. The Ways of Moral Reasoning 60 3. Fundamental Moral Theology 62 3.1. Use of the Bible 62 3.2. Molina's Conception of Natural Law 67 3.2.1. De Legibus et Constitutionibus 67 3.2.2. The Theological Nature of Natural Law 68 3.2.3. Ius and Lex 72 3.2.4. IusNaturale 74 3.2.5. LexNaturalis 78 3.3. Jesuit Spirituality 85 3.3.1. The Spiritual Exercises 85 3.3.2. The Jesuit 'Way of Proceeding' 87 3.4. Casuistry 89 3.4.1. Ecclesiastical Development 90 3.4.2. The Influence of Nominalism 91 3.4.3. High Casusitry 93 4. Conclusion 95 Chapter Three. Justice and the Origins of Private Property 97 1. Grace and Property: An Often Repeated Discussion 97 1.1. The Medieval Inquiry Regarding Property: Theologians, Canonists and the Spiritual Franciscans 97 1.2. Soto and the Plight of the Poor 99 2. Molina on Private Property: A Theological Problem 102 2.1. Dominium: Definition and Kinds 103 2.2. The Original Common Property of Goods 104 2.2.1. The Traditional Doctrine 104 2.2.2. Molina's View of the Original Community 107
IX 2.3. The Origin and Justification of Private Property 108 2.4. lus Naturale and Ius Gentium: Virtue and Human Law...113 2.5. Conclusions on Private Property 116 3. The Common Good of the Respublica: Politics and Economics 121 Chapter Four. Three Specific Topics: Usury, Prices and Money Exchange 125 1. Introduction 125 2. Usury 126 2.1. The Classical Definition and Its Unlawfulness 127 2.1.1. Divine and Human Law 128 2.1.2. Natural Law Case against Usury 131 2.2. Titles of Interest 138 2.2.1. Forced Lending and Mons Pietatis: The Development of the Titles of Interest 138 2.2.2. The Acceptance of Lending: Labor, Damnum Emergens, Lucrum Cessans and Periculum Sortis.. 141 3. The Just Price 148 3.1. Molina and His Predecessors 149 3.2. Communis Aestimatio: A Decision within the Community 151 3.2.1. Natural Prices 151 3.2.2. Communis Aestimatio 153 3.3. Economics and Chrematistics 154 3.4. Monopolies and the Genovese Wool Trade 156 3.5. Fixed Legal Prices 161 3.6. Information, Economic Expectations and Justice 164 3.7. A Just Market 166 4. Money Exchange and Credit Creation 169 4.1. Introduction 169 4.2. Types of Exchange and Its Lawfulness 171 4.2.1. Petty or Manual Exchange 172 4.2.2. A Strange Monetary System 173 4.2.3. The Difficulties of Exchange Bills 175 4.3. Different Values of Money 176 4.4. The Problems of the Creation of Credit 180 4.5. Moral Dimensions of Money 182 5. Conclusion 182
X Chapter Five. Justice as Virtue in an Economic Context 185 1. Justice a Virtue 185 1.1. Transforming Paradigms 185 1.2. Justice in General 186 1.2.1. Meanings of Justice 187 1.2.2. Justice as Moral Virtue 190 1.2.3. The Object of Justice: Ius and its Divisions. The Order of Reality 191 2. The Importance of Cultural Contextualization 193 2.1. The Detailed Analysis of Casuistry 193 2.2. Cultural Embeddedness of Economic Practices 195 2.3. The Moral A Prioris of Case Building 197 3. The Basic Metaphor Regarding Society: The Body 198 3.1. The Origins of the Idea and the Respublica Christiana 199 3.2. Economic and Moral Implications of the Organic Model 200 3.2.1. Economics of a Body 200 3.2.2. The Economic Common Good 203 3.2.3. Taxes and the Common Good 204 3.2.4. Economics: A Probable Science 206 4. Church and State: The Role of Charity 206 4.1. Church and State 206 4.2. Ecclesiology and Moral Theology 207 4.3. Justice and Charity 209 5. Money, Metaphysics and Society 210 6. Risk, Profit, and the Distribution of Wealth 212 6.1. Business, Risk and Gambling 212 6.2. Risk and Indetermination 215 6.3. Wealth Creation and Distribution 216 7. Law and Prudence: Its Importance for Justice 218 Conclusion 221 1. Molina on Economics and Ethics 221 2. Molina on the Natural Law 224 3. Molina and Methodology 227 4. Molina on Justice and the Common Good 229 5. Conclusion 231 Bibliography 233 Index 241