Political society and civil society: From the political-legal experience to ideological models

Abstract

In this text, we examine the relationship between political society and civil society from a classical and Christian perspective, aiming to show that their radical separation is a modern construct rooted in rationalist thought. First, we revisit classical political philosophy –especially Plato and Aristotle– to argue that society cannot be properly understood without a formal ordering principle: politics oriented toward the common good. We maintain that civil society, conceived as the “material” component of social life, lacks full intelligibility and practical coherence without the political form that structures and directs it. Second, we present Thomas Aquinas’ contribution, emphasizing his concept of society as a “potestative whole” and his causal account of political order: final cause (common good), formal cause (law/authority), and material cause (a plurality of intermediate social bodies). Finally, we address contemporary rationalist distortions through hermeneutic, normative, and empirical frameworks...