3. The theorist of liberty

Author(s):  
Quentin Skinner

‘The theorist of liberty’ examines Machiavelli’s Discourses, which discuss the constitution of a free state, maintenance of military power, and good leadership. Examining Livy to find the roots of Rome’s success, Machiavelli argues that a city state must be self-governing and able to pursue the common good. The civic body must also possess virtù. Cities only grow quickly and manage to acquire greatness if the people are in control, so that the city and its citizens are living in liberty. But if liberty is the key to greatness, how can it be acquired and kept safe? Machiavelli admits that an element of luck is always involved, but he chiefly focuses on the role of civic religion and mixed forms of government.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-164
Author(s):  
M. Aufarul Mawahib

Umar bin Khattab during his leadership in the city-state of Medina he had laid the foundations of the modern state especially in the economic field which will be discussed in this paper. Umar made many breakthroughs that had never been done by the Messenger of Allah and the Caliph before, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. Although one of the policies that will be mentioned in this paper is opposed by some Muslims at that time, Umar can prove to his people that what he did was for the common good and interests.


Author(s):  
S.J. Matthew Carnes

The transformation of political science in recent decades opens the door for a new but so far poorly cultivated examination of the common good. Four significant “turns” characterize the modern study of politics and government. Each is rooted in the discipline’s increased emphasis on empirical rigor, with its attendant scientific theory-building, measurement, and hypothesis testing. Together, these new orientations allow political science to enrich our understanding of causality, our basic definitions of the common good, and our view of human nature and society. In particular, the chapter suggests that traditional descriptions of the common good in Catholic theology have been overly irenic and not sufficiently appreciative of the role of contention in daily life, on both a national and international scale.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Cloete

The main objective of the article is to identify the possible implications of social cohesion and social capital for the common good. In order to reach this overarching aim the following structure will be utilised. The first part explores the conceptual understanding of socialcohesion and social capital in order to establish how these concepts are related and how they could possibly inform each other. The contextual nature of social cohesion and social capital is briefly reflected upon, with specific reference to the South African context. The contribution of religious capital in the formation of social capital is explored in the last section of the article. The article could be viewed as mainly conceptual and explorative in nature in order to draw some conclusions about the common good of social capital and social cohesion.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article contributes to the interdisciplinary discourse on social cohesion with specific reference to the role of congregations. It provides a critical reflection on the role of congregations with regard to bonding and bridging social capital. The contextual nature of social cohesion is also addressed with specific reference to South Africa.


Author(s):  
J. Phillip Thompson

This article examines the political aspect of urban planning. It discusses Robert Beauregard's opinion that planning should not reject modernism entirely or unconditionally embrace postmodernism, and that planners should instead maintain a focus on the city and the built environment as a way of retaining relevancy and coherence, and should maintain modernism's commitment to political reform and to planning's meditative role within the state, labor, and capital. The article suggests that planners should also advocate utopian social justice visions for cities which are not so far-fetched as to be unrealizable so that planning can then attach itself to widespread values such as democracy, the common good, or equality.


Author(s):  
Leonor Taiano

Este estudio examina la manera cómo Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora describe el binomio fiesta-revuelta en Alboroto y motín de indios de México. La investigación está estructurada en cinco partes. La primera toma como punto de partida el concepto de polis y los órdenes que rigen el bien común. La segunda alude a la percepción del fasto desde las diferentes perspectivas de los miembros de la polis novohispana. La tercera parte analiza la importancia del letrado en la organización virreinal. En la cuarta parte se examina el papel activo de las indias en la organización y desarrollo de la revuelta. Finalmente, en la quinta parte, propongo la existencia de una conciencia colectiva plebeya en el virreinato de Nueva España. A través de este análisis se llega a conclusión de que el motín de 1692 presenta las características propias de las revueltas que tuvieron lugar en los territorios españoles a lo largo del siglo XVII, en los cuales, durante el momento festivo, surgía una acción contestataria que trataba de imponer la isonomía en la polis This research analyses how Carlos de Sigüenza and Góngora describes the dichotomy of festivity-revolt in Alboroto y motín de Indios de México. This study is structured in five parts. The first one takes as its starting point the concept of polis and the regulations for the common good. The second one alludes to the Spanish splendor produced in the different members of Novohispanic polis. The third part analyses the letrado’s function within the viceregal organization. The fourth part examines the active role of Female Indigenous in the revolt’s organization and development. Finally, in the fifth part, I propose the existence of a Plebeian collective consciousness within the viceroyalty of New Spain. Through this analysis, the study concludes that the revolt that took place In 1692 has all the characteristics of the revolts that happened in the Spanish territories throughout the 17th century, in which, during a celebratory event, there could arise insurrectionary actions to impose the isonomia in the polis.


2021 ◽  
pp. 155-181
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Rhode

This chapter explores the challenges for families and schools in channeling ambitions in more productive directions. Today’s adolescents confront a world of growing pressures, which are also increasing mental health challenges. Parents’ vicarious ambitions can compound the problems if they push children to focus too much on extrinsic markers of success at the expense of intrinsic motivations to learn and ethical values. Both schools and families should help students to develop persistence, resilience, a strong moral compass, and commitment to the common good. Opportunities for service learning, internships and mentorships can encourage constructive ambitions. So too, parents and colleges must better control the preoccupation with prestige that has hijacked admission processes and encouraged gaming the system. Educators should also modify admission criteria such as legacy, donor, and athletic preferences that advantage already advantaged applicants.


2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-168
Author(s):  
David Thang Moe

This article explores old issues and current challenges from new perspectives. It offers explorations of the role of the Trinity in interreligious dialogue and the roles of interreligions in Asian contemporary theology. It proposes some methodological concepts of how Christians should reconsider people of other faiths through the lens of the Trinity, and also how Christians should witness to shalom against sin in engagement with other faiths for the common good of social, gender and ecological liberation in Asia.


1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 577-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Broadhead

ABSTRACTThis article examines the forces that shaped the responses of the urban commons to the Reformation in Augsburg. Developing work by Blickle and others, it considers the extent to which traditional communal ideals were reflected in measures to construct a system of ‘sacral corporatism’. An examination of the attitudes of guildsmen towards communal values and institutions shows variation in their views, even on such basic points as the identification and imposition of the ‘common good’. Case studies show how predominantly poor weavers were attracted to the call to enforce communal principles as a means of defending their status and incomes. To this end they welcomed evangelical teaching, for it provided scriptural and ethical endorsements of corporate action. In contrast, members of the butchers' guild, who were involved in a capital intensive occupation, resisted communal restraints on their freedom to trade and make profits. The butchers' opposition to the Reformation rested more on their rejection of ‘sacral corporatism’, as advocated by reformers in Augsburg, than on support for Catholicism. Augsburg shows the significance of communal values in the urban Reformation, but it demonstrates that these were neither static nor uniformly accepted. On the contrary they were themselves the subject of dispute.


1988 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Grofman ◽  
Scott L. Feld

We identify three basic elements of Rousseau's theory of the general will: (1) there is a common good; (2) citizens are not always accurate in their judgments about what is in the common good; and (3) when citizens strive to identify the common good and vote in accordance with their perceptions of it, the vote of the Assembly of the People can be taken to be the most reliable means for ascertaining the common good. We then show that Condorcet's (1785) model of collective judgment shares these assumptions with Rousseau and that understanding the implications of Condorcet's (1785) “jury theorem” enables us to clarify many of the most obscure aspects of Rousseau's treatment of the general will, including his discussion of the debilitating effects of factions and his confidence in the ability of the Assembly of the People to discern the general will by means of voting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-405
Author(s):  
Niklas S. Mischkowski ◽  
Philipp Späth

This study explores the movement for an ›Economy for the Common Good‹ from a sustainability transitions perspective. Special interest lies in the integration of companies in a social movement. The underlying study was carried out in the region of South Tyrol, Italy. It reveals what institutional work was involved, explores impacts and reflects on the role that companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, can play in structural change.


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