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The Common Good Revisited

ASURVEY of the horizon of contemporary social ethics suggests that some moral questions are indeed perennial. The late 20th century— with its brave new technologies, frightful capacity for destruction, and growing web of political and economic interdependence—confronts the human race with ethical choices that are genuinely new. But in their efforts to address many of these new issues, a number of ethical thinkers have recently begun to debate the meaning and practical relevance of an idea that can be traced back to Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. I mean the notion of the common good. This essay will highlight some of the most important discussions going on in social ethics today by viewing them from the perspective of this debate about the meaning of the common good. First, some of the reasons why the question of the common good has re-emerged as a matter of serious moral argument will be outlined. Second, a theological argument for a pluralistic, analogical understanding of the common good will be outlined, an argument that draws on several themes present in Augustinian and Thomistic sources. Third, the possibility of reinterpreting the common-good tradition in a way that enables it to contribute to a nonindividualistic understanding of human rights will be explored. This essay will present only a sketch of some current discussions of the common good. It will focus on a theoretical question that cuts across numerous practical ethical discussions: whether the idea of the common good is meaningful and usable at all in present historical circumstances. If this essay is able to clarify the state of this question within the framework of theological ethics, it will have achieved its purpose.