Searching for the Common Good

This book addresses the heated debate on whether politics has to care only about the question of justice, rights and tolerance or open up to a teleological concept like the common good. Long considered the central feature of the public sphere, the common good was progressively sidelined during the 20th century. But amid ambiguous globalisation and the limits of political liberalism, the common good is returning to the fore.

This volume gathers together theologians, economists and philosophers in order to investigate this concept’s relevance in meeting the challenges of our time. It argues in different ways and from different disciplines that the common good is what shapes the public sphere most profoundly. It is not a closed concept, but rather a dia-lectic that drives societies and humanity towards more human integration. As such, the common good is a form of hope, hope that what is good for me and what is good for others are not ultimately at odds but actually enrich and extend each other.