The Common Good

The common good is an essentially contested concept in contemporary moral and political discussions. Although the notion of the common good has a slightly antique air, especially in discussions in the North Atlantic, it has figured prominently in both the sophisticated theoretical accounts of moral and political theory in recent years and also in the popular arguments brought for particular political policies and for more general orientations toward policy. It has been at home both in the political arsenal of the left and the right. It has had special significance in ethical and political debates in modern and modernizing cultures. Broadly Aristotelian views about community, family, and the common good have played an important role in Western debates about the impact of modernizing trends on traditional intermediate institutions. Similarly, debates in East Asian cultures traditionally influenced by Confucian teachings have worried about these same influences. Both Aristotelianism in the West and Confucianism in the East have been to some extent pushed aside from the center of contemporary political debate, but both remain options frequently sought out by those uncomfortable with some of the more unsettling features of modern culture.