Fall 1999
Educating in the Jesuit tradition
Part 1
| By | Father Robert J. Spitzer, S.J. |
| President, Gonzaga University |
(Originally published in the Fall 1999 edition of GONZAGA, the alumni publication.)
When I speak about Gonzaga, I say that we are trying to achieve the highest standards in the Jesuit educational tradition. People almost invariably ask, "What do you mean?" I normally give the "three-minute answer" which does not do justice to this deep, long-standing, remarkable enterprise. Thus, I decided to devote the next three issues of this column to "my take on Jesuit education."
The principles guiding the values of an Ignatian education derive from Part IV of the "Constitutions of the Society of Jesus," and from the "Ratio Studiorum" of 1599. The ultimate goal of the Ratio Studiorum was not merely to develop rhetorical, writing, and thinking skills, but to help students understand and articulate the wisdom, knowledge, and habits benefiting their souls and the souls of others. One might rephrase this goal in contemporary terms as "to prepare the students to pursue their ultimate personal good and the common good." The study of philosophy is central to helping students achieve this goal by providing essential background and foundations to understand and articulate:
- Rationality (evidence, consistency, valid argumentation, and systematic avoidance of omissions)
- The existence of God, and appreciating God's love and justice
- The ultimate end/ends (goals) of the human person
- The highest end/ends of the polis (community), or society (i.e., the common good)
- The means for pursuing the goals for human personhood and the common good (i.e., ethics).
The order of this list is significant, for without an understanding of the foundations of rationality, one could not achieve a rational awareness of God as Creator; without an awareness of God, one could not achieve an awareness of the ultimate end of the human person (not only created by God, but destined for God). In this view, one could never hope to achieve an adequate awareness of oneself without some awareness of the one Being capable of satisfying human desire.
Since Augustine's time, Western philosophers believed that human desire was oriented toward an unconditional, perfect, and unrestricted end (in Truth, Goodness, Justice, Beauty, Being and Love). If this were true, human beings could never satisfy themselves, and indeed, could never be satisfied by anything except unconditional, perfect, and unrestricted Truth, Goodness, Justice, Beauty, Being and Love. Augustine's famous exclamation in Book I of the "Confessions" expresses it succinctly: "For Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." If one believes that we are endowed with this desire for the unconditional, perfect, and unrestricted, then there are only two options: (1) One can come to affirm and relate to the God who alone can satisfy one's ultimate ends; or, (2) one can deny or reject God, and admit that life is absurd, for if God did not exist and human desire is satisfied only by the unrestricted, the human person is destined to be frustrated in the very ground and height of his/her nature.
This sets the stage for the fourth contribution of philosophy, namely, understanding and articulating the common good. For Suarez (an early Jesuit philosopher who first articulated a theory of rights resembling our contemporary one), the objective of society is to optimize the common good. This requires not only an awareness of the ultimate good for humans, but also a means of assuring that the good of the whole does not annihilate the good of some individuals. The actualization of these two potentially diverse objectives moved Suarez to articulate his theory of rights (the very first articulation of rights in history).
The third and fourth contributions reveal the need for the fifth, namely, ethics, principle, and virtue. Since the days of ancient Greece, many understood that ends do not justify the means. One cannot use an unjust means to pursue a just end; such means are inconsistent with, and therefore undermine, the good end.
Jesuits appreciated the need for principles, because they realized that our capacity for rationalization is virtually infinite. I don't know about you, but give me five minutes and I can rationalize any action as being good through utilitarian criteria (a harms/benefits calculus). If we are capable of such rationalization, it will never be sufficient merely to solve ethical cases or make ethical arguments. We must steep ourselves in principles and virtues which may not be absolutely applicable in all circumstances, but must stand at the ground of all ethical questioning and thinking, and which, therefore, cannot, without trepidation, be compromised.
These five dimensions of the Jesuit educational tradition are by no means restricted to philosophy. They permeate the study of literature, history, politics, law, the social sciences, the natural sciences, the health sciences, and even engineering. Of course, they interact with theological and pastoral studies and reflect upon the community life and spiritual life of the students. They form a powerful ethos giving rise to faith, self-awareness, justice, love and above all, a life dedicated to the common good.
