Examining the economic foundations of Catholic social thought

There has been a tension that exists between orthodox economists and the economic policy prescriptions that arise from the body of thought known as Catholic Social Thought. It is the claim of orthodox economists that Catholic Social Thought contains no valid economic analysis, that it fails to understand the working of economic science, and therefore its policy prescriptions are invalid. The purpose of this study is to challenge the claim made by orthodox economists that no valid economic science underlies Catholic Social Thought. The study proceeds from the assumption that a general conceptual scheme (GCS) provides a philosophical or metaphysical foundation to any scientific endeavor. If the existence of a GCS can be shown to exist within Catholic Thought that is different from and incommensurate that of orthodox economics, it can then be argued that Catholic Social Thought is not devoid of any understanding of economic analysis, it is that the economic analysis of Catholic Social Thought is a radically different alternative from orthodox economic understanding. The outline of the GCS for this different approach to economic science, the approach that provides the foundation for Catholic Social Thought, is found by an examination of the foundational texts of Catholic Social Thought, a series of papal encyclicals from 1891 to 1991.