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Intel

and moral. Such is the end and aim.
lectual and physical education, therefore, must not
be sundered from moral education, but must be
given as means to it, so that no intellectual cog-
nition or gift and no bodily faculty may be
developed without being rendered subservient to
the end of moral perfection. All the efforts of
the educator and all the means he uses must, with
perfect coherence and consistency, contribute to
this end. Such is the principle of pedagogy.

247.

nomy.

Economy treats of family government, shows (e) Ecoits constitution and the real-we might almost say, mechanical-laws of its movement forward to, or backward from, perfection--laws which have their origin in its natural constitution.

248.

necessary

prosperity

family.

The family has certain elements essential to Conditions its existence. Besides these, it has elements for the necessary to its prosperity, elements flowing from of the the same laws of which we have spoken. One of these is the following principle :-There must be an equilibrium between the number of persons who compose the family and its means of subsistence.

The government of the family tends to bring the members of a family nearer the aim of existence.

249.

Economy likewise sets forth the principles of the art by which a family must be governed, in order that it may prosper. And this prosperity itself must be such as to bring the members of a family nearer to human perfection and happiness.

Nature

and limits of family governments.

250.

The government of the family treated of in Economy is that which is based on the use of the means supplied by the domestic society, and particularly by the power proper to family govern

ment.

Vices belonging to domestic society.

251.

The governor, that is, the father, of the family must look beyond the limits of the family itself, and endeavour to form its members, so that they may be in harmony with other domestic societies, as well as with civil and theocratic society. One of the vices of this society is family egoism; the opposite vice is individualism. The family affected with the former becomes quarrelsome, and exposes itself to the risk of strife, which may either destroy it or place it in a position of authority over others. The family affected with the latter dissolves and perishes through internal discord. Economy points out the characteristics

of such vices, and shows how the vices themselves may be avoided.

It need hardly be remarked that the word Economy is used here in its old, original sense of family government. Aristotle says, " Τρία μέρη τῆς οἰκονομικῆς ἦν” (i.e. we have seen that there are), “ἓν μὲν δεσποτική . . . ἓν δὲ πατρική, Tρíτov dè yaμký" (Polit. i. 12; 1259 a, 37 sq.).

...

252.

Politics is the science of the art of civil govern- (5) Politics. ment. A distinction must be made between particular political sciences and the Philosophy of Politics. Each of the former treats of one of the

elements or means by which civil society is governed; the latter looks for the ultimate grounds of the art.

Rosmini's work on The Philosophy of Politics, although it contains elements not strictly philosophical, is, nevertheless, a work of great profundity and importance. It consists of two parts, entitled respectively, The Main Cause whereby Human Societies stand and fall, and Society and its End. The latter is divided into four books, of which the first treats of Society, the second of The End of Society, the third of How the Proximate End of Civil Society, though indeterminate in Theory, is determined in Fact, and the fourth of The Psychological Laws according to which Civil Societies approach their End or recede from it. The work closes with four appendices, in the form of essays-the first on Statistics, the second on Communism and Socialism, the third on the Definition of Riches, and the fourth on Public Amusements. The last two are particularly deserving of attention.

Political rules.

253.

The ultimate grounds are, in the first place, the political rules; in other words, the highest precepts

which instruct us how to estimate the true value of all the means and expedients to which the statesman has recourse in the government of civil society.

Four

· sources of

political rules.

254.

Political rules are divided into four classes, which arise from considering civil society as a body to be propelled to a given end. In connection with this propulsion four elements must be considered: (1) the end toward which said body is to be impelled; (2) the nature of the body itself; (3) the laws of its movement; and (4) the forces calculated to impel it.

The end of civil society.

First
Source.

255.

The philosophy of politics must first of all consider the end toward which civil society must continually move. This end is public prosperity, which depends upon justice and the concord of the citizens. Hence the political rules deducible from the end of civil society are these two: (1) Direct your government so as to maintain and strengthen that main force on which the existence of your society rests, and, since this force changes according to the different periods of the life of civil

society, learn and follow the theory of these changes; in other words, Take care of the substance of society and leave the accidents to take care of themselves; (2) Direct your government so that your citizens may attain temporal prosperity in accordance with the principles of morality, or so that human prosperity may produce the good proper to human nature, which alone satisfies Citizens, when satisfied, are quiet and

man.

harmonious.

256.

source.

In the second place, the philosophy of politics Second must investigate the nature and natural constitution of civil society, and thence deduce this rule: That policy which brings civil society near to its natural and normal constitution is good; that which does the opposite is bad. The natural constitution of civil society is based upon the following five equilibriums: (1) equilibrium between population and wealth; (2) equilibrium between wealth and the civil power; (3) equilibrium between the civil power and material force; (4) equilibrium between the civil and military powers and knowledge; and (5) equilibrium between knowledge and virtue. The political rules of this class may be summed up in this formula: All those political means which bring civil society nearer to the five equilibriums above enumerated are good; all those that do the opposite are bad.

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