What Theology Should and Should Not Learn from the Social Sciences About the Common Good

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary L. Hirschfeld
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Thought ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common

There are two ways to answer the question, What can Catholic social thought learn from the social sciences about the common good? A more modern form of Catholic social thought, which primarily thinks of the common good in terms of the equitable distribution of goods like health, education, and opportunity, could benefit from the extensive literature in public policy, economics, and political science, which study the role of institutions and policies in generating desirable social outcomes. A second approach, rooted in pre-Machiavellian Catholic thought, would expand on this modern notion to include concerns about the way the culture shapes our understanding of what genuine human flourishing entails. On that account, the social sciences offer a valuable description of human life; but because they underestimate how human behavior is shaped by institutions, policies, and the discourse of social science itself, their insights need to be treated with caution.

The Contribution of Sociology to Catholic Social Thought and the Common Good

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas V. Porpora
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Thought ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common

Although “the common good” is not a term of art in sociology, sociologists are concerned to contribute to greater human flourishing. Thus, concerted sociological attention to social problems, or common “bads,” suggests an implicit sociological understanding of the common good. Beyond the admonition for all people to think critically, sociology enables us in a special way to understand how we sin not just individually but also socially and collectively through our social relations. It is toward a better understanding of such oppressive and unjust social relations and how to overcome them that sociology contributes to the common good. Such insights can provide assistance to Catholic social thought in its own understanding of the common good.

Contributions of Economic Theory to an Understanding of the Common Good in Catholic Social Thought

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles K. Wilber
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Imperfect Information ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Thought ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Common

Economic analysis can be useful to Catholic social thought in its concern for the common good, or the rough economic equivalent, human flourishing. First, treating the standard economic concept of externalities as ubiquitous can result in policies that promote human flourishing. Second, much scholarly work in economics recognizes that under conditions of interdependence and imperfect information, rational self-interest frequently will lead to socially irrational results unless that self-interest is somehow constrained. Two specific changes can better promote the common good: investing in the prospective role of worker-shared ownership and replacing gross domestic product with an accounting system that more accurately measures the well-being of society. These reflections lead to an answer to the question, What is the common good?

Empirical Foundations of the Common Good

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Effective Path

What has social science learned about the common good? Would humanists even want to alter their definitions of the common good based on what social scientists say? In this volume, six social scientists—from economics, political science, sociology, and policy analysis—speak about what their disciplines have to contribute to discussions within Catholic social thought about the common good. None of those disciplines talks directly about “the common good”; but nearly all social scientists believe that their scientific work can help make the world a better place, and each social science does operate with some notion of human flourishing. Two theologians examine the insights of social science, including such challenging assertions that theology is overly irenic, that it does not appreciate unplanned order, and that it does not grasp how in some situations contention among self-interested nations and persons can be an effective path to the common good. In response, one theologian explicitly includes contention along with cooperation in his (altered) definition of the common good.

Beyond the Nations: The Expansion of the Common Good in Catholic Social Thought

2001 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 723-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A Barbieri
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
Made In

In recent years it has become increasingly common to speak of the international or global common good. It remains unclear, however, what political content attaches to this expression, and how it relates to more traditional conceptions of the common good rooted in the context of the polis or the nation-state. This article examines the ramifications of extending this time-honored concept to a transnational framework, focusing in particular on the evolving rhetoric of the political common good in Catholic social thought. The first part traces the emergence of the transnational common good in Catholic thinkers such as Maritain, Murray, and Messner, as well as in the encyclical tradition. The second part addresses, from the standpoint of political theory, problems of scope, structure, and application attending the expansion of the common good. The concluding section proposes a multilayered, heuristic interpretation of the common good organized around the notion of a “plurality of pluralisms.”When one speaks of the common good, it always makes sense to inquire: The common good of whom? How the common good is demarcated is a matter of no small moment for any claims that are made in its name. name. For these claims stumble as soon as it becomes clear that the good referred to is in fact shared by only some members of the assumed collectivity and not the rest; and they likewise falter if they are revealed to rest on an inappropriate delimitation of the collectivity at the expense of others who, for the purposes at hand, should rightfully be included.

What Can Social Science Teach Catholic Social Thought About the Common Good?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Cloutier
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Condition ◽  
Alasdair Macintyre ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of

Recent Catholic literature on the common good centers on the state’s creation of the social condition for the flourishing of individuals. This view stands in contrast with a premodern conception of the common good as shared participation in the enterprise of the social whole, which appears incompatible with liberal pluralist societies. To get beyond this forced choice between individualism and imposed collectivism, Catholic social teaching can learn much from how social science’s richer description of the social whole depicts shared participatory structures of contention and competition as crucial for the achievement of the common good. Yet, following insights from both social science and the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, prudence must be developed to distinguish between structures of competition that do promote the common good and others that do not. The essay concludes with a revised definition of the common good that includes these insights.

Public Policy and the Common Good

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Jo Bane
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common

Although the common good, particularly from a theological perspective, entails dimensions of life beyond the ken of the social sciences, public policy analysis has much to contribute to a religious assessment of and recommendations for achieving the common good. It can provide an empirical complement to theological understandings of human flourishing by examining how people behave and articulate their aspirations and values. It provides both data for deciding what is important and urgent as well as an assessment of alternative policy approaches to promote the common good, particularly concerning poverty, wealth, inequality, and the fraying of traditional institutions like marriage and religious communities. Critically, it can clarify the trade-offs that inevitably accompany efforts to improve human well-being, whether by government or by voluntary associations.

scholarly journals Tertiary Education for Refugees: A Case Study from the Thai-Burma Border

Refuge ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan MacLaren
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Social Thought ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Catholic Social Thought ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Catholic University ◽  
The Common ◽  
Diploma Program

The Australian Catholic University (ACU) has, since 2003, been involved in providing tertiary education for young refugees who have fled persecution in Burma to end up in refugee camps in Thailand. This paper examines the origins of the program, the changes made as lessons are learned, and the current Diploma program which is also supported by three US universities and York University in Toronto. It also examines how past graduates have used their qualifications for the common good, a term derived from Catholic social thought which informs ACU’s specific Catholic identity as a university. The paper further looks at what challenges lie ahead within the Thai-Burmese context and how this model can be replicated in other protracted refugee situations.

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