The good is what all things desire insofar as they desire their perfection. Therefore the good has the notion of a final cause. Hence it is the first of causes, and consequently di
Grisez’s powerful treatment of patriotism, politics, and citizenship distinguishes nation from state or political society/community, state from government (the political community
What are the types of political and social society that can embody those relationships of giving and receiving through which our individual and common goods can be achieved? They w
In ordinary political discourse, the “common good” refers to those facilities—whether material, cultural or institutional—that the members of a community provide to all members in
The common good has traditionally been the keystone of normative political theory, but its meaning has also been contested. The balance between different meanings has changed over
One of the oldest questions of moral philosophy is what the best life is for a human being. A standard view in ancient Greek philosophy was that there are three types of life:
In keeping with the social nature of man, the good of each individual is necessarily related to the common good, which in turn can be defined only in reference to the human person:
That a marvelous order predominates in the world of living beings and in the forces of nature, is the plain lesson which the progress of modern research and the discoveries of tech
The idea of the common good features in Aristotle’s thinking about the nature of political life and is talked up by Aquinas in his account of the rationale of politics and law as being the promotion and protection of the common good (bonum commune). It featured in later writing but declined with the rise of individualism and came to be replaced by the idea of collective goods. Again, it is sometimes taken to be equivalent to public good. In fact, these are all different but related notions. Individual goods are materials, resources, states or conditions that are good for particular individuals. Collective goods are aggregations of these, such as the added wealth of a set of people who might pool their resources for investment. Public goods in contrast to private goods, are ones access to which cannot be restricted. If an individual installs a wind turbine to generate electricity for his home he has created a private good. If, however, he installs lighting along a street to guide his route to and from his home he may also have created a public good if that illumination is available to others. A common good is something that is not available independently of others sharing in it. Friendship is a common good, so is family and community life. The idea was brought back into use following World War II by French Catholic writers such as Jacques Maritain and Yves Simon.