MSOE student presents paper in Italy at international conference
| Published: 10/22/2007 |
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The presentation is part of the Ludwig von Mises International Conference sponsored by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and the London School of Economics. The theme of the 2007 Conference is "Philanthropy is a Post-Socialist Europe."
Schultz has combined his interests in free market economics, philosophy and theology in preparing a paper for review and discussion with some of the best minds in Europe's academic community. Joshua was the only U.S. student selected for participation in the conference.
As a conference presenter all of Joshua's arrangements were ad honorium through the generosity of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. As part of MSOE outreach, the Office for Servant-Leadership provides opportunities and guidance for students seeking to deepen their academic interest in the application of Servant-Leadership principles to the complex issues facing our world.
An abstract of Joshua's paper follows:
Augustine of Hippo in a 21st Century Post-Welfare-State: The Civitas Diaboli vs. the Civitas Dei Peregrine Paradigm for Charity rather than Compulsion in the Provision of "Public Goods"
The chief apologia for the growing encroach of the welfare state in the last half of the 20th century was the "discovery" of an ever-growing list of new "human needs" - previously undiscerned or discounted indispensable necessities of healthy human existence whose absence or inadequate provision in individuals or subgroups could produce dramatic if not cataclysmic social, psychological, and moral deterioration. The long accepted quattro of basic human needs - food, clothing, shelter, and security - expanded to include everything from sanitation to self-actualization. Once the definition of "need" was elasticized almost any facet of human experience fell under the general rubric of "public safety and security" and position of the "state as savior" was secure.
The focus of this paper rests upon emancipating acts of providing "public goods" from an artificial and spurious definition of such provision as "securing of the public good." Using Augustine's paradigm of the Diabolical City in contradistinction to the Ethical (Divine) City in Progress (toward perfection) the proper place of compassion and individual responsibility and a consistent "doctrine" of diminished social capacity and personal disability are explored. The paper offers a model for the "how" as well as the "why" of Charity within a free market society as the ideal of the civitas Dei peregrine.