False Emancipation

This quote, from the then-Joseph Ratzinger, underscores the erroneous philosophical background rooted in Enlightenment philosophical presuppositions of current topics of debate such as abortion and the attempt to redefine the institution of marriage:

“The attack on tradition became, with them (the French Encyclopedists), ever more fundamental, more conscious, more intense. This movement increased its scope during the age of technical reason. The idea of emancipation is understood today as the radical antithesis of the idea of tradition. All previous value systems are to be unmasked; in his rationality, man becomes the creator not only of himself but also of a world constructed according to his own designs; he forms himself and reality anew in the unconditioned transparency of his own rationality. Philosophically, this concept is expressed in the theory that man was not created according to a preconceived design and is, consequently, free (and, at the same time, obligated by this freedom) to design himself—to determine what man is to be like in the future. This liberation of man from the soil of the earth, from the foreordination to which he owes his existence, is most evident in the notion of perfect dominion over life and death and in elimination of the distinction between man and woman.”

-Joseph Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology: BuildingStones for a Fundamental Theology