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Aristotle on the Conditions for and Limits of the Common Good

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Thomas W. Smith
Thomas W. Smith*
Affiliation:
Villanova University
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Abstract

Contemporary debates over liberal political theory should encourage renewed investigation of the common good, and it is appropriate to begin by interrogating Aristotle's account. Aristotle argues that injustice stands in the way of the common good. Injustice is motivated by both overgrasping for scarce external goods, such as money, honor, and power, and by excessive desires. Aristotle argues that the common good requires a reorientation away from external goods to satisfying activities that do not diminish in the sharing. He sketches an analogical account of familial and political relationships that leads us to wonder what the political conditions are for the common good. Reflecting on these conditions not only points to the strict limits of the common good but also speaks to both sides in debates over liberal theory.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , September 1999 , pp. 625 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1999

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