This article is a the third part of a series on business. You might be interested in the previous two parts, “Business as a Noble Vocation” and “Justice: Business, and Human Flourishing.“
If justice is so great, what doesn’t everyone just do it? One reason is that life in this “vale of tears” is complicated and we must serve God wittingly in the tangle of our minds. In other words, sometimes, in everyday life, the way of justice is unclear. Other times, however, the just way forward is clear and it is still difficult to walk it. Why is that? Why do we have such trouble doing what we know to be right?
The animal part of our human nature gives us some insight here. By instinct, animals move towards pleasure and away from pain. These instincts serve most animals quite well. Natural impulses keep animals nourished and promote reproductive success. However, for the human animal, simply seeking pleasure and avoiding pain is not enough. Reason opens our existence to higher orders of goodness than mere pleasure. Our lives can be much more than constant vacillation between pleasure and pain; they can be richly meaningful.
Given that human beings are born into communities, the meaning and goodness that reason enables is pursued on a social level. In communities, we can come to a consensus on what the Common Good is and resolve to pursue it together. Reason allows us to reimagine and communally reengineer our environment. Even the most industrious beaver only follows his instincts when constructing dams. In contrast, we can imagine a better world and work towards it together.
Reason empowers us to perceive transcendent goodness and to work together in pursuit of the common good. Taken together, these fruits of reason open up the possibility of justice and injustice, virtue and vice.
As considered above, it seems as if working towards the Common Good would be everyone’s default. This may be the case if we look at reason in isolation, but if we add back in the animal desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and allow that to mix with reason, we can begin to see the problem. If I can use my reason to manipulate my surroundings, I can reject the higher viewpoint of the Common Good in favor of maximizing my stream of pleasurable experiences and minimizing painful ones. Continuing this train of thought, I can reject the notion of community and stop worrying whether my actions hurt others, as long as they enhance my pleasure.
There needs to be some internal mechanism for the human person to bridge the gap between the goodness that reason suggests and the incentives that sensitive animal nature produces. One such mechanism is the virtue of temperance, which “moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods” (Catechism of the Catholic Church). This “moderation” and “balance” allows someone to pursue the Good in accord with right reason.
A just business person must act in accord with right reason and pursuit justice and the common Good along with profit. Greed muddies the waters and makes ethical decision-making difficult. Greed is an offense against justice rooted in intemperance. Much like the tyrant in Plato’s Republic, a greedy businessperson’s desire for pleasure can spiral out of control. The effects of this revolt against reason are not limit to the tyrant himself; to satisfy his unreasonable desires, the tyrant must dominate and oppress others. His pleasures come at the expense of the common good. Likewise, a businessperson possessed with greed operates their business in a way that that transgresses human dignity and chips away at the common good.
So what is a good business person to do? Would you be surprised if I suggested prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? Prayer orients us towards the good. Fasting trains us to postpone pleasure and thereby builds the virtue of temperance as a weight-lifter builds muscle. Almsgiving, when done at the proper, slightly painful level, teaches us to relativize the value of money and the vast pleasures it can buy.
Temperance empowers us to pursue justice by putting pleasure in its place and allowing us to use created goods properly.
Featured image courtesy of Liz West via Flickr
Brian is a dual-degree graduate student studying theology and business.
He went to BC for undergrad and studied theology and business.
For The Torch, he writes on theology and business.
In his free time, he reads about theology and business.
- Temperance: On Guard Against Greed - November 27, 2019
- Justice: Business, and Human Flourishing - October 30, 2019
- Business As a Noble Vocation - September 27, 2019