You are a good so to say, yet bad often comes your way. Your goodness it seems, is often met with its opposite.Is there any hope or chance for good in this world? Mahatma Gandhi lived it, but if given a choice, not many would have chosen a simillar path. All this in spite of the fact that the world’s most recognizable figure, Pres. Obama, in symbolizing hope represents good in a “bad” “bad” world.

A mind journey across the earth

   Imagine a world where differences in socio-

economic status would have no impact on the access of services. Be it water, health or education.. You name it, whatever it is that humanity considers to be essential and Noble at the time.

A society where every member has equal chance to do, obtain and achieve whatever it is that they consider to be worth in their life. Now think of poverty stricken regions of the world; the hungry, homeless and or cloth-less man, child and woman somewhere in the globe.

May be something should be done, probably  books should be sent so that they can have an education, a promise of a better future? Or would seed, fertilizer and water harnessing technology suffice? But before we do that, doesn’t such measures mean extra taxes for a bread winner somewhere struggling to support his or her brood?

These are just but a part of the myriad of contrasting scenarios that the ethic of “common good” paints.

the common good  concept

The “common good” ethic envisions a society where the conditions are such that both individual members of society and groups have a ” relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment”. This ethic was first described by the fathers of philosophy Aristotle, Plato and Cicero. In modern times it has been the catholic church that has struggled with the weight that this notion despite the numerous oppositions to it. 

Many philosophers have argued that the “common good” cannot exist in this pluralistic society that contends with the notion that its members are individuals who are allowed to pursue their own interests devoid of distractions from other members of society.