| Abstract: | The studies carried out in this dissertation was aimed at developing a coherent position resulting from
the social teaching of the Church in relation to the phenomena of consumerism and anti-consumerism.
One of the intentions was also to present the concept of the "culture of temperance" resultant from
the social teaching of the Church (analysis of postulates expressed, among others, in social encyclicals
Sollicitudo rei socialis, Centesimus annus, Caritas in veritate, Laudato si', Fratelli tutti), in order to
finally compare the postulates/lifestyles of "secular" ideologies with the social teaching of the Church.
The question to be answered was: Do the postulates of the contestationist (anti-consumerist)
movements have the same scope of meaning as the "culture of temperance" postulated by the social
teaching of the Church? If these scopes are not the same, then what makes them different? If they do
overlap, on what level can and should a dialogue between them take place? Is a universal synthesis
of this postulate coming from two different (economic-social and theological-moral) worlds possible? Thesis 1. It is unjustified to reduce
consumptionism solely to a reevaluation of material consumption motivated by hedonism; Thesis 2:
Giving up on possessions does not in itself perfect human, if it does not contribute to his moral
development and enrichment of his "being"; Thesis 3: The postulates of anti-consumerist ideology do
not have the same scope of meaning as the "anti-consumerist" postulates flowing from the Catholic
social teaching; Thesis 4: No coherent alternative to anti-consumerism has arisen in the space of
Catholic social teaching. |