scholarly journals Dobro wspólne okiem socjologa — kilka uwag porządkujących

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 49-63
Author(s):  
Bartosz Mika

This text can be defined as an attempt to look at the question of the common good through sociological glasses. The author suggests that many of the issues subsumed under  the term “the common good” have already been elucidated and described in detail on the basis of classical and contemporary sociology. If it is assumed that the common good can be understood triply, as (1) a postulate of the social good, (2) materially, as an object of collective ownership, and (3) as an effect of the individual’s life in society, then it must be admitted that, at least in the third case, reference to the collected achievements of sociology is necessary in order to describe the common good properly.

Author(s):  
Mary L. Hirschfeld

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.


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.


Author(s):  
James Stacey Taylor

The first question that is often raised in a discussion of the ethics of voting is whether or not there is a duty to vote. The view that there is a duty to vote is supported by two main arguments. The first holds that since the value of democratic governance is high persons should vote to preserve stable democracy. The second is that there is a duty to vote because if nobody voted the effects would be disastrous. The first of these arguments is criticized by Jason Brennan, who holds that since each individual vote will play little to no role in preserving stable democracy nobody has a duty to vote. The second is criticized by Loren Lomasky and Geoffrey Brennan, who argue that it is incomplete unless its supporters can show that democracy needs everyone to vote to continue. The question of whether there is a duty to vote naturally leads to the question of whether it is permissible for persons to vote in their own self-interest. Jason Brennan argues that persons should only (morally) vote for candidates or policies that they are justified in believing would promote the common good. It is unclear, however, what “the common good” consists of. This discussion of the morality of voting in one’s self-interest leads to the question of whether voting for a politician because she has made campaign promises is morally analogous to a voter selling her vote. In discussing this issue it is important to distinguish between the “restricted” defense of markets in votes (that the purchased votes are to be cast in favor of what the buyer is justified in believing is the common good) and the “unrestricted” defense of such a market (that purchased votes can be cast in any way the buyer pleases). Much of this discussion focuses on the morality of unrestricted markets in votes. Christopher Freiman has offered four main arguments in favor of such a market: (1) that it will make both the buyer and the seller better off; (2) that it is required by respect for voter liberty; (3) that it is relevantly similar to other practices that are currently allowed, such as logrolling; and (4) that it would enable electoral outcomes to better express voter preferences. None of these arguments are persuasive. The first is based on illicitly inferring from the claim that persons would voluntarily buy and sell votes if a market were allowed to the claim that they would thereby desire that this market be allowed. The second argument is flawed because if some persons would prefer that a market not be allowed, this could provide a sufficient reason to restrict their liberty by precluding them from selling their votes. The third argument overlooks important disanalogies between votes traded between voters, and votes traded between legislators. The fourth argument is based on the implausible assumption that vote sellers would not misrepresent their political preferences in a market for votes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-271
Author(s):  
Hugh D. Hudson

For Russian subjects not locked away in their villages and thereby subject almost exclusively to landlord control, administration in the eighteenth century increasingly took the form of the police. And as part of the bureaucracy of governance, the police existed within the constructions of the social order—as part of social relations and their manifestations through political control. This article investigates the social and mental structures—the habitus—in which the actions of policing took place to provide a better appreciation of the difficulties of reform and modernization. Eighteenth-century Russia shared in the European discourse on the common good, the police, and social order. But whereas Michel Foucault and Michael Ignatieff see police development in Europe with its concern to surveil and discipline emerging from incipient capitalism and thus a product of new, post-Enlightenment social forces, the Russian example demonstrates the power of the past, of a habitus rooted in Muscovy. Despite Peter’s and especially Catherine’s well-intended efforts, Russia could not succeed in modernization, for police reforms left the enserfed part of the population subject to the whims of landlord violence, a reflection, in part, of Russia having yet to make the transition from the feudal manorial economy based on extra-economic compulsion to the capitalist hired-labor estate economy. The creation of true centralized political organization—the creation of the modern state as defined by Max Weber—would require the state’s domination over patrimonial jurisdiction and landlord control over the police. That necessitated the reforms of Alexander II.


Author(s):  
Beatriz Silva Pinochet

This chapter examines the critique invoked by Chile's student movement in 2011–2012 that challenges the premises of the current spirit of capitalism — that is, the mechanisms of accumulation and its specific justifications in terms of the common good. The chapter draws on the work of Luc Boltanski and Peter Wagner about modernity, capitalism, mobilisation, critique, and structural transformations. It first considers how the critique invoked by the student movement articulates itself by understanding how the educational system in Chile was built and identifying the premises that guided the profound transformation of Chilean society led by the dictatorship. It then explores how the discourse of neo-liberal capitalism emerged in Chile, and which structures or reality tests were built based on that discourse. It also discusses the different nuances contained in the social, artistic and political critique voiced by the student movement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Platovnjak

The global economic crises at the beginning of the third millennium revealed the harmful consequences for the whole of society and the environment that the myth of the “deified” economy brings. Many researchers have been encouraged to begin exploring the causes of crises intensively. The author thinks that it is more important to look for ways to implement the economy in a way that serves the common good and a common home. The path to renewal of the economy the author sees described primarily in the direction that Pope Francis presented in the Laudato si'. Therefore, he puts forward the thesis that in the light of Laudato si' (Christian) spirituality plays an important role in the economy. To confirm the thesis, the author briefly defines economics and spirituality. Then follows a presentation of fundamental orientations based on the analysis in Laudato si' that could enable economic recovery. In the end, the author describes how a renewed Christian spirituality and dialogue can help individuals and communities make basic guidelines for a new economy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
J. Tirole

This lecture was delivered in November 2018 at Financial university in Moscow, Russia, to the faculty and students. using some current policy debates as illustrations, it describes the social scientist’s mission, and how economics can deliver the common good.


2018 ◽  
pp. 42-48
Author(s):  
Sergiy   Prysukhin

The article by S. Prysukhin “The Principle of Subsidiarity: Lessons from the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church” analyzes the achievements of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church, represented by the works of Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII, John Paul II, revealing the meaningful characteristics of the concept of “the principle of subsidiarity”, its role and meaning in the system of Christian values. The principle of subsidiarity makes possible such relationships in social life, when the community of higher order does not interfere in the internal life of the community of the lower order, taking over the proper functions of that function; for the common good it gives it when necessary support and assistance, thereby coordinating its interaction with other social structures. The principle of subsidiarity guides social practice to the promotion of the common good in the human community. The spread and application of the principle of subsidiarity opposes the danger of "nationalization" of society and the most terrible manifestations of collectivism, restricts the absoluteization of power, bureaucratization of state and socio-cultural structures, becoming one of the guarantors of respect for the rights and freedoms of citizens of their country.


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