The Intrinsic Common Good. What Participation in Public Life and what Responsibility Towards it are Required of the Faithful of the Church?

Abstract

This article explores the evolution of the concept of the common good, relating it to participation in public life, which is indicated as a moral good for the faithful of the Church. Following the Catholic Social Teaching, it becomes clear that the personal good is the foundation of the common good and that the latter cannot exist without responsibility to achieve one’s own good. Thomas Aquinas recovers the Aristotelian thought on the common good, with the difference that the emphasis is not on the good of the polis, but on the good of the person. The Church’s magisterium begins its reflection on the importance of the common good as the task of those holding relevant positions in society, and later on, in the second half of the 20^th century, indicates that the common good is the responsibility of the daily actions of the faithful. Our thesis is that the definition of the common good has in recent years acquired a somewhat extrinsic aspect, marked by the role of legislation and authority, whereas it would be necessary to emphasize, as St. Thomas did, the intrinsic dimension of the common good, which has its starting point in the personal good oriented to the service of all in the community.