To Have and to Be - the Ethics of Possession in the Social Teaching of the Church

Possessing consumer goods is inseparably connected with human nature and that is why adequate benefiting from them is an important factor to realize all noble values connected with the category “to be”. Private ownership helps a man be free, responsible for his fate and the prosperity of his family. It helps a man fulfill his life duties, realize his role and position in the society. Therefore a man should “have” so as to “be” more generous, great-hearted, solidary. The disarrangements of consumption in the form of consumptionizm doesn’t help him achieve some goals because it subordinates a man to consumption and makes him the subject of manipulation. There is nothing for it but to educate a man and help him self-educate as a man is the subject of consumption, it is he who decides about its level, quantity and quality. The shaping of responsible and mature humanity, which will not forget about the primacy of ethics over technology, spirit over matter, a man over a good, is the light for a modern man living in the consumer society