Common Good 

What is Common Good ? 

The common good denotes those goods that serve all members of a given community and its intuitions, and, as such, includes both goods that serve no identifiable particular group, as well as those that serve members of generations not yet born.

History of the common good 

The concept of the common good has played a prominent role throughout the history of Western politics. Aristotle (384–322 BC) in particular is widely regarded as a foundational thinker on this subject. While Plato (427–347 BC) also had a notion of the common good, Aristotle was the first to make the common good a central concept of his political theory.

Aristotle stated in his Politics (1998, 1252a1–3, p. 1) that the city-state is a particular type of community, and that, like all communities, it is “established for the sake of some good”. He specified that the good of the city-state is the most authoritative good, which encompasses all other goods.

Aristotle argued that the purpose of political communities is to secure not merely the conditions of living, but those of living well. He used different phrases to refer to the good of the citystate, including (“common good”) and (“mutual advantage”). What Aristotle always seemed to have in mind was the citizens’ happiness or good life. That is to say, the pursuit of happiness requires participation in public life and the cultivation of virtue, rather than, say, the maximisation of wealth. Happiness in this sense should be promoted for all full members of the political community. This, however, excluded many inhabitants of city-states, such as women and slaves, whom Aristotle deemed unfit for a life of moral and intellectual virtue. Aristotle called good government by one person “kingship”, good government by several people “aristocracy”, and good government by the many “polity”. Corresponding to these three types are three corrupt forms of government, namely “tyranny”, “oligarchy”, and “democracy” (1998, 1279b32– 1280a5, pp. 78–9). 

In Book III of his Politics, Aristotle used the concept of the common good to distinguish several good and corrupt constitutions, or forms of government. By contrast, if one person, a few, or a multitude only aim for their private benefit, then they should be considered to be deviations from the previous types. 

Other ancient thinkers also developed influential ideas about the common good, Roman writer and statesman Cicero (106–43 BC). He pointed out that the good of the people is the highest law of the state. Cicero referred to the common good as salus populi, which literally translates as “safety of the people” more generally, said that  “welfare” or “wellbeing” (Mansbridge 2013, p. 915). Cicero also reflected on this subject in On the Republic (1928b, 1.25.39, pp. 64–5), where he noted that res publica is a “thing of the people”. As he further specified, “a people” does not mean any kind of association, but is “an assemblage of people in large numbers in agreement with respect to justice and a partnership for the common good [utilitatis communion]”.

Thus, Cicero invoked a particular conception of the common good to distinguish republics (or states more generally) from other kinds of human association.

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), he follow the  both Aristotle’s and Cicero’s ideas,  this concept contains elements of a religious approach: the common good is a political and social organization that allows humans to seek God.  Following Aristotle, Aquinas (1993, 2.2) argued that the pursuit of self-interest leads to a deviant form of rule: “[A] tyrannical government is not just, because it is directed, not to the common good [bonum commune], but to the private good [bonum privatum] of the ruler”. 

In addition, Aquinas highlighted the need for shared notions of justice and of what benefits the political community. Yet, Aquinas was not only concerned with the flourishing of particular political societies, but also conceived of humans as part of a universal moral order (see Keys and Godfrey 2010). In contrast with ancient Greek and Roman theorists, however, he identified the common good with God. Consequently, Aquinas (1993, 2.1, p. 19) held that knowledge of the common good is available to Christian believers through revelation. In his words, “the good of the whole universe is that which is apprehended by God, Who is the Maker and Governor of all things”. 

References 

https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Jaede.pdf