Constructing An Ideal Society-A Study On The Social Justice Thoughts Of Reinhold Niebuhr

This paper aims to study the social justice thought of Reinhold from the perspective of Christian ethics.The main arguments are as follows:first,the social structure of evil is caused by the sin of man himself.Niebuhr's political thought is based on the theory of human nature of Christian Theology.He believes that the only source of social evils is the sin of man.The sin of man is mainly manifested selfishness and arrogance.A social group composed of individuals is infected with personal sin.The serious crime of the group makes it tend to oppress and exploit other groups and individuals in the process of grasping the dominant force,thus creating an unfair relationship.The group consecrates its self-interest and it makes use of the system,culture and violence machine to maintain this kind of irrational and unjust relationship——hence the social structural sin.Secondly,social morality and individual morality should be distinguished.Niebuhr's idea of social justice is based on the distinction between the two.He thinks that personal morality which is with selfless as the highest moral ideal is higher than the social morality which is with justice as the highest moral ideal.Thirdly,the three kinds of resources(rational moral,social mandatory and religious belief)can be used to realize social justice,social morality and religious belief.The three kinds of resources have their own limitations.Therefore,Niebuhr emphasized the comprehensive use of the three resources.It is impossible to completely eliminate evil and injustice in society,so he believes that all orders are unstable.It is impossible for man to realize the ideal society through his own efforts,but it is possible for man to achieve a higher form of justice and greater peace.He believes that in order to transcend the tragedy of history,people should have a tough attitude,be more humble,tolerant,moderate,and have faith and hope for the Holy Spirit.Fourthly,it is original that Niebuhr used religious belief to explain the formation of social evil and the realization of social justice compared with other thinkers' social justice thoughts,so it has the important enlightenment to the construction of China's system and moral construction.Niebuhr thought is a revelation to us,he stressed on the crime,so I had to give up naive illusions of humanity.Let us realize that it is far from enough to restrain power by morality.Although the system and the law may reduce the efficiency,but with the system,the law may restrain the power to a certain extent resists the power by the fervor and the benefit corrupt.The emphasis on virtue is very important for us to solve some moral problems.He doesn't trust to a group,let us not be too submissive to authority and lose the moral freedom;his emphasis on humility and restraint,let us not indulge in non rational freedom,but too morally indulgence.Finally,Niebuhr's thought of social justice is based on the experience of Western society,there may be some inevitable limitations.Niebuhr might overestimate the role of religious belief,and the historical experience tells us that religious beliefs may also be corrupted by passion and self-interest.To realize the ideal society Niebuhr proposed people should try to restrain his selfish impulses and try to love others.However,people do not seem to have such a strong power to do so,on the contrary,most people are more willing to take own profits.His political theology does not seem to provide enough motivation to restrain individual self-interest and make individual loves others.