The Common
Good

For a society to remain cohesive, it’s necessary for its members to share a vision of a series of goods that unite them. These “common” goods are part of the “common good” of that society.

In a world as globalized as our world is today, there are a number of goods that are gained or lost if and only if the majority of the world’s citizens, its states, companies and other institutions reach agreements on how to identify and maintain them. Consequently, one could say that there is a global common good, which can be defined as the set of conditions that allow the members of the global society to achieve their goals as well as everyone’s goals more easily and fully. Some common goods are easier to identify – a suitable climate to sustain human life, fair international laws, effective international institutions – while others are more difficult to agree upon in terms of their content and how to proceed to achieve them.

It is therefore necessary to start with very profound truths about humanity: what promotes it and what weakens it. This is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century: to build human communities united by shared visions of what is good and led by people committed to this good.