We need to live in society if we are to live at all

The great pagan philosopher Aristotle, who lived over 300 years before Christ, described man as a “social animal”. He meant that one of the main characteristics of human beings is to relate with others. And the relationships that people forge are at the root of what we call “society”.

Aristotle also argued that people who do not act “according to their nature are no different from the common cabbage! For him, society was so important that people have to relate to one another not simply to live well, but to live at all.

Aristotle was simply tapping in to something more fundamental: that people survive by living and working in relation with each other. The Bible itself recognises this: “it is not good for man to be alone”, we are reminded in the book of Genesis. Men and women are made for relationship: with God, and with each other.

The Church has always taught that the human person is the pinnacle of creation, being made in the image and likeness of God. So she therefore also teaches that we are (or at least ought to be) “the principle, the subject and the end of all social institutions” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 402). The family and civic community are societies that are necessary; other associations at national and international level are also important.