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<p>The pinnacle of the Novak’s reflections on possible perspectives for the future of the world and the development of international relations is his vision of “Caritapolis” (“Civilization of love”), which is presented especially in the book <italic>The universal hunger for liberty – Why the clash of civilizations is not inevitable</italic> (2004a). Novak builds the concept on the religious assumptions and on the minimum level of general belief in basic principles (cultural humility, regulative idea of truth, the dignity of the individual person, solidarity), which he considers to be the key to the world security, prosperity and the democratic future of the globalized world. This “vision for the 21st century” is to contribute to the consideration of a universal civilization that would respect all its internal variations and create a certain unity despite its rich diversity of value and religious ideas. The aim of this paper is to present Novak’s concept of Caritapolis and to evaluate it in terms of context of the social doctrine of the Church, Catholic social thought debates, relevance in the context of debates in the social sciences, especially the theories of international relations.</p>
</abstract>

The pinnacle of the Novak’s reflections on possible perspectives for the future of the world and the development of international relations is his vision of “Caritapolis” (“Civilization of love”), which is presented especially in the book The universal hunger for liberty – Why the clash of civilizations is not inevitable (2004a). Novak builds the concept on the religious assumptions and on the minimum level of general belief in basic principles (cultural humility, regulative idea of truth, the dignity of the individual person, solidarity), which he considers to be the key to the world security, prosperity and the democratic future of the globalized world. This “vision for the 21st century” is to contribute to the consideration of a universal civilization that would respect all its internal variations and create a certain unity despite its rich diversity of value and religious ideas. The aim of this paper is to present Novak’s concept of Caritapolis and to evaluate it in terms of context of the social doctrine of the Church, Catholic social thought debates, relevance in the context of debates in the social sciences, especially the theories of international relations.

The vision of Caritapolis and perspectives of the future: The high point of Michael Novak’s work

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The pinnacle of the Novak’s reflections on possible perspectives for the future of the world and the development of international relations is his vision of...

The vision of Caritapolis and perspectives of the future: The high point of Michael Novak’s work

Published Online: Dec 09, 2023

Page range: 218 - 228

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2023-0015

Keywords
Michael Novak, neoconservatism, Catholic social doctrine, Caritapolis, civilization of love

© 2023 Roman Míčka, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The vision of Caritapolis and perspectives of the future: The high point of Michael Novak’s work

Published Online: Dec 09, 2023

Page range: 218 - 228

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2023-0015

KeywordsMichael Novak, neoconservatism, Catholic social doctrine, Caritapolis, civilization of love

© 2023 Roman Míčka, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Michael Novak, neoconservatism, Catholic social doctrine, Caritapolis, civilization of love