3. The Interdependence of Economic Rights and Responsibilities

In order to eliminate any possible doubt that Concordian economics might be a theoretical construction unable to sustain a close encounter with daily reality, we will focus a bit of our attention on a few key aspects of the central components of Concordian economics: economic rights and economic responsibilities. We will observe some of the relations that they establish: 1. Between individual human beings and thus in relation to the opponents of rights; the forces of privilege, 2. Their position in relation to society as a whole, namely how did they evolve over time, and 3. In relation to economic theory as well as the theory of economic justice. Economic rights and economic responsibilities are not dislocated entities, some belonging to individual human beings and some to society, for instance. We shall see that they are both lodged in the same human being. This is the chain established by the responsibilities: my responsibilities establish my rights and make your rights possible; your responsibilities establish your rights and make my rights possible. It is this set of interrelationships that determines their potential to create Social Renewal through Economic Justice for All, as a fundamental aspiration of civilized society. This was the title of the first presentation of the issues. Theoretically, economic rights and responsibilities are born out of this sequence: Concordian economic theory, Concordian economic policy, and Theory of Economic Justice. Hence they are born through the transformation of the millenarian Doctrine of Economic Justice into the Theory of Economic Justice. This transformation, so far, has only been accomplished within the realm of Concordian economics.