0-6 jul Sorel, f ly anech Hr Brsk. of Gel Soon Flas “he bad of He : Sete . i . Seherve de Le enep Aen + opp dactytThe end of the family and the end of civil society Iwas asked to treat the present subject from the philosophical point of view. It is for this reason that I mention neither the sacrament of marriage nor the supernatural society which is the Church. Our viewpoint, however, is no less philosophical for being that of Christian philosophy. In fact, the chief basis for the present paper is none other than the Hacyclicals of Pius % "Divini Illius Magistri", and "Casti Connubiin, Of a family we say that it 1s good, when, faithful to the indissoluble union which they have vowed, husband and wife do all they can to provide their offspring with proper nourishment and education. ‘This is the fundamental erite- rion, for the primary end of marriage is the child; whereas the form end principle of the fa- mily consists mainly in the union of mind and heart between husband end wife, primarily in view of the child not only as to its generation, but even more so far the sake of its education to manhood. For this reason, whatever 4s cha- racteristic of the married person must somehow be related to the child. ven the friendship of husband and wife (of which Aristotle hasspoken eo well in the Ethics) 1s intrinsic to nerriage itself and must therefore be ultima~ tely based on their union for the sake of the child whése education 1s the main reason for the indiseoluble character offasratesey Medlock, At thie jmoture a first difficulty may be raised against this doctrine. It seens that the end of marriage as well as the persone of hus- band and wife are altogether minified if we con- fine thon Hp the perspective of the child. This objection may arise from the fact thet fon the one hand we seck in the family more than | 1t 18 and on the other hand we would reduce the Persons who make up the family to what they are insofar as they ere members of this imperfect society, and correspondingly reduce their good to that which is theirs as members of such a so- ciety. For although the family is indeed a so- ciety in the strict sense of thet term, it re- mains an imperfect one, as Pius XI states it in the Rneyclical "Divini Tlie Magistrit: "the fantly enjoys a priority both of nature ané of right #esetetioatoccien| Society. bpbibe stheteit kane ia taf atl, Hes Dreaton prcntectrrest ot ott thesethtned which are reo quired for a perfect achievement of its end; cebry Rate whereas civil society 1s « perfect, ayoveil Werthitin, Hes -jomis, a