Portal:Philosophy/Selected article/12
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In ethics and political science to promote the common good means to benefit members of society. Thus, helping the common good equates with helping all people, or at least the vast majority of them. The common good is often regarded as a utilitarian ideal, thus representing "the greatest possible good for the greatest possible number of individuals". In the best case scenario, the "greatest possible number of individuals" would mean all individuals. In this sense common good is a quality which is convertible, or reducible, to the sum total of all the private interests of the individual members of a society and interchangeable with them.
Another definition of the common good, as the quintessential goal of the State, requires an admission of the individual's basic right in society, which is, namely, the right of everyone to the opportunity to freely shape his life by responsible action, in pursuit of virtue and in accordance with the moral law. The common good, then, is the sum total of the conditions of social life which enable people the more easily and straightforwardly to do so. The object of State sovereignty is the free choice of means for creating these conditions.
