O solidarismo de Heinrich Pesch e a doutrina social da igreja entre Rerum Novarum e Quadragesimmo Anno

Abstract

This dissertation discusses the economic theory of Heinrich Pesch, known as the Solidaristic System of Human Work, and its impact on the Church's Social Doctrine. Initially, it explores how Catholic social thinkers developed discourses on the so-called Social Question throughout the 19th century. This movement, which emerged among both clergy and laity, culminated in the formulation of a social doctrine with Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum. Next, the dissertation presents Heinrich Pesch's theory as a synthesis of the principles outlined in this encyclical and the economic theories circulating in the academic world of the time. At this point, a textual exegesis is employed to argue that Pesch was able to integrate philosophical and moral principles, such as the use of teleology and a personalist view of human dignity, while also incorporating academic theories of the period, such as a moderated version of the subjective theory of value and the cartalist theory of money. The dissertation continues by presenting the Solidarist System as the modern update of Catholic social thought's economic proposals for national economies, based on the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, realized through functional groups for labor regulation. Finally, this study demonstrates the development of Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo Anno in a context of political conflict between the Catholic Church and Fascist Italy, and suggests the adoption of solidarism as the official vision of the Church's Social Doctrine, although its adoption declined in the following decades.