From the Christian Beatitudes to the values of modern capitalism. An axiological analysis

Abstract

In the contemporary society two axiological traditions have been installed in the subjectivity of people, one, which comes from primitive Christianity that promotes social and humanitarian values, and another, from capitalism, which disseminates personal and materialistic values. In the historical evolution, the two cultures have proposed to influence the thinking and behavior of people, representing two different worldviews that are in perennial tension. The analysis of the two fields is done from a secular or civic position, meaning that the religious approach is not part of the axiological reflection. It is exposed that the capitalist axiology is prevailing over the Christian axiology given the enormous influence of the values of greed, profit, competition and individualism. Which leads to personal and group egocentricity that fragments society and generates problems such as accumulation, exploitation and inequality. The so-called crisis of values is nothing more than the crisis of humanistic values that has foster the rise of materialistic values producing a new cultural ethos in society. The text uses authors such as the French thinker Luc Boltanski, the sociologist Ève Chiapello, the philosopher Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, the social psychologist Valdiney V. Gouveia, the philosopher and anthropologist Risieri Frondizi, as well as the philosophers and theologians José María Castillo, Leonardo Boff, Charles Taylor and the Swiss Hans Küng, among others, who gave theoretical support to this essay.