Although it is possible to trace its roots to the musings of earlier philosophers and moral theorists, the “common good” figured prominently in the treatises of the High Scholastics of the medieval period. From them we learn that “the common good” has nothing to do with counting beneficiaries, and still less with justifying breaches of the law by appeal to numbers appeased. It is not some kind of social reservoir from which society’s members may freely pick what they need—or what they fancy! It is a rather involved notion because it coupled the concept of a person as sui juris (self-determining, self-governing) with the necessity of social and political life. It cannot be the duty of the State to make the individual flourish. That would violate a cardinal mark of personhood – autonomy. But society had the obligation to make it possible for the individual to flourish, if he so desired. And so, the “common good” refers to the sum of circumstances—structures, services, resources—that must be present so that those properly motivated may actualize their optimal potential! manilatimes.net/coups-common-good/116842/
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 00:20:14 +0000
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