Civil Power and The Obligation of Conscience

The Limits of Politics

Abstract

This paper presents a brief reflection on the limits of civil power in relation to human conscience. To that end, it proposes an articulation between the liberty to have conditions to act and moral-practical action, and this articulation is shown as a standard-typology of practical reason, in addition to being an objective criterion that is sufficiently capable of grounding legitimate political action, as distinct from “impolitical action”, here understood as a phenomenon in which power finds no objective limits and expands into spheres that lie outside its purview. The definitive criterion that ascertains political action as anchored in prudence is the common good.