Abstract
Rooted in a tradition of over 2000 years, modern Catholic social teaching (CST) has been developed since the late nineteenth century. CST proposes principles and also criteria and directives, but it is essentially a virtue-based approach, in which virtues are intertwined with principles and with four basic ethical values: love, truthfulness, justice, and freedom. Christian love (charity) is at the heart of CST, animating and inspiring all other virtues and principles. Practical wisdom, the virtue of good judgment, is also crucial to determine the just means of virtues and to apply principles, criteria, and directives correctly in each particular situation.
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Melé, D. (2017). Virtues, Values, and Principles in Catholic Social Teaching. In: Sison, A., Beabout, G., Ferrero, I. (eds) Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management. International Handbooks in Business Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6510-8_9
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