The Idea of the Public Good

James O’Connell

Chapter 7 in Welfare and Values, 1997, pp 77-89 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Every society in which people accept solidarity with one another, recognize interdependence and foster participation formulates in one form or another a concept — the common or public good — which expresses those broad ends that members of the society pursue together. The notion of the common good embodies the conviction that the good of individuals is ensured in the pursuit of the good of society.1 This notion is in one form or another contained in the world’s great religions. Within Christianity, the two-fold precept of Christ on love of God and love of neighbours (two sides of the one obligation) drew on and summed up its Judaic heritage. It was expressed again in Islam. This obligation works through Hinduism in which the absolute permeates all that is contingent; in Buddhism it finds expression in reverence for all that lives; and in Confucianism it is embodied in the acceptance of a strong social and family ethos.

Keywords: Middle Class; Common Good; Welfare Benefit; Liberation Theology; National Social Insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-25547-4_7

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349255474

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-25547-4_7

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().