-
140
-a model for all communities. This primary discrimination of the Other underlines the realisation that there is a group of persons in
relation to one another and in personal relation to a group and also as individuals to each other. ^ This brings to the fore two basic elements that are necessary for the existence of community. The two elements are the need for two or more persons and for these persoi^ to be in personal relation with one another.
Community is a group of two or more persons that are held together by personal relationships. This group is the material from which a
5
fellowship or community arises. Macmurray declared that: "The members of a community are in communion with one another, and their association is a fellowship."^ This community is made up of members in positive relation to one another which is the basic structural elements within community. "The structure of a community is the nexus or network of the active relations of friendship between all possible pairs of its
7 members•"
This fellowship is constituted from, as well as maintained by 0
mutual affection. This means that not only is the community held together and created by mutual affection, i.e. love, but also that the motivation behind the actions within community should be based upon love.
4. PR p.78
5. Kirkpatrick, Frank Gloyd, "The Idea of,God in the Thought of John Macmurray" (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis: Brown Universiiy,
1970) p.131 6. PR p. 146
7. PR p.158 8. PR p. 158
9. Largo, Gerald Andrew, "The Concept of Community in the Witings of John Macmurray: A Study of the Implications of John Macmurray* s Concept of Community for Roman Catholic Liturgy" (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis: Mew York University, 1971) PP. 275-276
- 141 -
Therefore, the positive motivation that is to he found in community is love* Macmurray defined, love as "the motive of actions in which we expend what is ours upon something or someone other than ourselves liove then has a heterocentric hase, which is an important pragmatic element in community* Without the positive motivation of love there could not and would not he any community in terms of Macmurray* s coW- pi^hension of community. Since mutual affection is the motivation behind cammuniiy, and that within community each considers the other
the centre of value, the value of a person within a group is not placed with himself, but on the other. The heterocentric character of the group does not aim towards fusion of the selves, but the unity of persons.
Community not only presupposes that there is a group that is held together by personal relationships, but it also posits the distinctive heterocentric character of being held together and created by mutual love and affection. Community can be viewed as a harmonious inter-
11
-
12relation of persons which is an end in itself. This is one of the ways in which Macmurray differentiates society from community in that a society should have a common end towards which to strive, where as a community needs no common goal in order to exist. One might say that within community, in place of the ccanmon goal there is the motiva tion of love. The intention of a community or the purpose of a
15
community is the sharing of a common life;'
10. Macmurray, John, "Freedcm in the Person Nexus" in Freedom; Its Meaning ed. by Nanda, Ruth (Anshewm, New York;
Harcourt Brace & Co., 194^) p.186, hereafter cited as FPN 11. Kirkpatrick, op. cit., p. 131
12. FPN p.187
13. Jeff ko, Walter George, "John Macmurray* s Logical Form of the Personal; A Critical Exposition" (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis;
- 142 -
Another chaxacteristic that community presupposes is the unity of persons within the group. Community for Macmurray is a unity of persons as p e r s o n s . T h e unifying factor in community is the personal one of mutual affection. Macmurray when discussing the differences between community and society maintained that:
A community, on the other hand, rests upon a different principle of unity^ It is not constituted* by~a common purpose. No doubt its members will share common pur poses and co-operate for their realisation. But these common purposes merely express, they do not constitute the unity of the association; for they can be changed freely without any effect upon the unity of the group. Indeed it is characteristic of communities that they create common purposes for the sake of co-operation instead of creating co-operation for the sake of common purposes. It follows from this that a community cannot be brought into existence by organisation. It is not functional. It is not organic. Its principle of unity is personal. It is constituted by the sharing of a common life.15
This fellowship is maintained as well as created by mutual affection. This heterocentric grouping is an end in itself since the unity of persons is not for a purpose but something that is brought about within the purpose of sharing a common life.
The community is not self-sustaining, but must be constantly intended and maintained by the persons within it. Ideally the
17
community is inclusive of all persons, but this is only in terms of an ideal, since Macmurray recognised that there were practical limits to a community. Macmurray realised that: "The number of persons who can form a real community is limited by the quality or depth of the
18
community between them." Macmurray realised that with the influx of new persons into the community the quality, i.e. the depth of mutual affection can be threatened. Therefore, the community cannot pragmat-
14. Ibid
15. OF pp.56-57
16. Kirkpatrick, op. cit., p. 120