Common good facts for kids

The common good is about what is good and helpful for everyone in a community, or for most people. It's also about what we achieve when we work together as citizens, taking part in public life and helping others.

The idea of the common good has been around for a very long time. Ancient Greek thinkers like Aristotle and Plato talked about it. Today, it often means something that only a community can achieve together, but that each person in the community can benefit from.

Many important thinkers have explored the common good, including Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Rawls. In economics, "a" common good is something that many people can use, but it can be used up (like fish in the ocean). "The" common good, however, is a bigger idea about the overall well-being of society.

What is the Common Good?

The term "common good" can mean different things, but it generally falls into two main ideas:

• Substantive: This means the common good is something specific that benefits everyone or most people in a group. It could be things like peace, safety, or good health.
• Procedural: This means the common good is what comes out of everyone working together and respecting each other's rights and dignity. It's about the process of deciding what's best for all.

History of the Common Good Idea

The idea of the common good has been a key topic in how people think about politics for centuries.

Ancient Greek Ideas

For the Ancient Greeks, the common good was about making their city or state (called a polis) strong and successful.

Plato's View

Plato didn't use the exact phrase "common good," but he talked about "the good of a city." In his book The Republic, Plato believed that a city works best when everyone follows the wise leaders. He thought that if people shared everything, like possessions and even families, it would create strong unity and happiness for everyone.

Aristotle's View

Aristotle, who was Plato's student, is often called the "father" of the common good idea. He used the term "the common interest." Aristotle believed that a good government works for the common interest, while a bad government only helps the rulers.

He thought that the common good grows from the smaller groups in society, like families, then villages, and finally the state. Aristotle also believed that people who understand the needs of the state better should have a bigger say in how it's run. He felt that talking and discussing ideas in a friendly, smart way was key to achieving the common good.

Renaissance Florence

During the 1400s and 1500s in Florence, Italy, the common good was an important idea. Niccolò Machiavelli, a famous political thinker, talked about the "common good" or "common usefulness." He believed it meant the general well-being of the whole community.

Machiavelli thought that freedom was important for the common good, bringing wealth, safety, and a good life. However, he also suggested that a strong ruler could bring a good level of common good, even if they weren't fully democratic. Some people argue that Machiavelli's idea of common good wasn't truly "common" because he also wrote about republics needing to defeat their neighbors.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Ideas

In the 1700s, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote The Social Contract. He argued that society can only work if people have common interests. He believed that the main goal of any state should be to achieve the common good.

Rousseau thought that the common good could only be found by listening to the "general will" of the community. The general will is not just what every person wants individually, but what is best for the whole group's survival and well-being. For Rousseau, a government is only fair and right if it acts according to this general will and aims for the common good.

John Rawls's Theory of Justice

In the 1970s, John Rawls defined the common good as "certain general conditions that are... equally to everyone's advantage." In his book Theory of Justice, Rawls suggested a way to make society fair for everyone.

He used an idea called the "original position" with a "veil of ignorance." Imagine you are deciding the rules for a new society, but you don't know who you will be in that society – rich or poor, smart or not, healthy or sick. Rawls believed that if you didn't know these things, you would choose rules that are fair to everyone, especially those who are worst off. This is because you wouldn't want to risk being in a bad situation yourself.

Rawls said that people in this "original position" would choose two main rules:

• First Principle: Everyone should have equal basic freedoms, as long as those freedoms don't stop others from having the same freedoms.
• Second Principle: Any social or economic differences should:

* Benefit the least fortunate members of society the most. * Be open to everyone, meaning everyone has a fair chance to get good jobs and positions.

So, for Rawls, the common good is closely linked to making sure the least advantaged people in society are well-off.

Common Good in Other Cultures

The idea of a common good also appears in other parts of the world:

• Confucianism: In Confucian philosophy, the well-being of the group or community is often seen as more important than individual interests, or at least that individuals and groups depend on each other to do well.
• Islamic Thought: Many modern Islamic thinkers talk about the common good or public interest (called maṣlaḥa ‘āmma). They see it as a key principle in Islamic law, aiming for the overall benefit of the community.

Common Good in Economics

In economics, the terms "public good" and "common good" have specific meanings.

• A public good is something that everyone can use without stopping others from using it, and you can't easily stop anyone from using it (like clean air or national defense).
• A common good is something that is hard to stop people from using, but it can be used up (like fish in the ocean or a public park that gets too crowded).

Economists also look at how people's actions affect the common good. Sometimes, people working for their own benefit can help society, like when businesses compete to offer better products. But sometimes, individual actions can harm the common good, like pollution.

Social Choice Theory

Social choice theory looks at how groups make decisions. It explores whether it's possible to combine everyone's individual preferences into one fair decision for the whole group. Some theories suggest it's very hard to do this perfectly without someone having too much power. However, other ideas show that with certain rules, fair group decisions are possible.

Public Choice Theory

Public choice theory uses economic ideas to study politics. It tries to understand how people's private interests can influence political decisions. For example, it looks at how special interest groups might try to get policies that benefit them, even if it's not the best for everyone. It also explains why people might not vote (because they think their single vote won't make a difference) or why they might not learn much about politics (called "rational ignorance").

However, this theory also helps find ways to solve problems. For example, Elinor Ostrom studied how communities successfully manage shared resources like forests or fishing grounds, showing how people can work together to prevent problems like overfishing.

Common Good in Democracy

In a deliberative democracy, the common good is a guiding idea. This means that when people discuss and make decisions in a democracy, they try to find solutions that benefit everyone. It's not just about counting votes, but about talking things through and justifying choices based on what's good for the whole community.

Common Good in Catholic Teaching

The idea of the common good is very important in Catholic social teaching. It means "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily."

This teaching emphasizes that people cannot truly be happy or successful by themselves. They need to live "with" others and "for" others. The goal of living in society is to achieve this common good.

Important Catholic documents like Rerum novarum (1891) and Veritatis Splendor (1993) talk about the common good. They discuss how society should be organized to help workers, protect private property, and promote virtues like honesty, fairness, and working together for the good of all.

Common Good in Modern Politics

In today's politics, especially in the United States, some politicians use the idea of the common good to describe their goals. They talk about "public wealth" or "shared benefit" for society.

For example, things like education and knowledge are seen as global common goods. This means that creating, sharing, and using knowledge should benefit everyone as a shared effort.

Common Goods for Health

Common Goods for Health (CGH) are actions or programs that benefit a whole population's health. These often need funding from governments or donors because they create huge health benefits for communities that wouldn't happen if left to private businesses.

Examples include:

• Watching out for health risks (like new diseases).
• Policies to control diseases.
• Controlling insects that spread diseases.
• Emergency responses for public health crises.

These types of health efforts are designed to help everyone and improve the overall health of a community.

History of Common Goods for Health

In the mid-1900s, leaders started to think more about common goods for health, but decisions were often made by a small group of powerful people. After the 1950s, governments began to focus more on solving shared health problems for all citizens. This idea is still growing and becoming more common today.

See also

In Spanish: Bien común para niños