What Is the Common Good?
The common good is a goal that societies strive to achieve for the welfare and rights of their people. People are deeply influenced by the societal, cultural, and institutional circumstances they encounter. It is essential to explore the social arrangements that promote the common good to allow individuals to fulfill their aspirations.
There is a category of ethical principles that are universally professed yet often universally rejected in practice. These principles range from applying the same standards to oneself as to others to a dedication to promoting democracy and human rights.
John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty emphasizes the importance of human development in its richest diversity. Institutions that hinder such development are indefensible. Adam Smith, too, believed in the inherent empathy that allows us to identify with others’ happiness and suffering.
Classical liberalism and anarchism seek to promote human development and dismantle hierarchical and authoritarian structures. Anarchism aims to achieve a planned administration of society in the community’s interest, supporting worker-owned enterprises and federations of self-governing communities.
The American brand of libertarianism differs from the libertarian tradition, as it advocates subordinating working people to economic elites and restrictive market disciplines. In contrast, true libertarian socialism seeks to empower workers by allowing them to control productive institutions.
America’s founding fathers were aware of its hazards and designed the Constitution to prevent the rise of a democratic majority that could threaten property rights. Aristotle, too, recognized the potential flaw of democracy, as the poor majority could use their voting power to seize the property of the rich.
Ultimately, the libertarian tradition seeks to dismantle the political guardianship of the elite and reconstruct society from below based on workers’ control and respect for human dignity. By approximating the common good through these principles, societies can create more just and equitable arrangements that benefit all members of the community.
🔭 This summary was human-edited with AI-assist.
