scholarly journals Think Piece: Situating Education for Sustainable Development in southern African philosophy and contexts of social-ecological change to enhance curriculum relevance and the common good

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tichaona Victor Pesanayi ◽  
Rob O'Donoghue ◽  
Soul Shava
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Change ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Common ◽  
Curriculum Relevance

scholarly journals The Common Good Provision Scale (CGP): A Tool for Assessing People’s Orientation towards Economic and Social Sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinzia Castiglioni ◽  
Edoardo Lozza ◽  
Andrea Bonanomi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Personal Gain ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
Good Provision

Many governments and institutions are currently challenged with insecurity, economic instability, and ongoing turbulence which may undermine the quality of life of each human being and the sustainable development of civil society. As this kind of sustainable development is strictly related to the promotion of the ‘common good’, it is of paramount importance to understand the different motives that lead people to give their contribution to the common good, in order to sustainably align individual needs with the needs of the society. By adopting a psychological perspective for the promotion of the sustainable development, the aim of this study is to develop and validate a new metric, the Common Good Provision scale (CGP), to assess people’s orientation towards economic and social sustainability. Items were generated from a preliminary qualitative study investigating meaning and representations on the common good and its provision. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were undertaken to validate and improve the scale. The final scale, which consists of seven items, contains two dimensions: Accessibility (i.e., making the common good accessible to anyone and fulfilling people’s basic needs) and Personal Gain (i.e., getting a return and personal advantage in exchange for one’s contribution). In addition, we tested a model in relation to a specific form of contribution: Paying taxes and making charitable donations, that are two complementary ways to financially provide for the common good. It was found that when the Accessibility motive prevails, people are more willing to pay taxes and make donations, whereas when the Personal Gain motive prevails, people are more likely to commit tax evasion and less willing to make monetary donations. The study is novel in that it represents the first attempt to develop a metric to assess people’s motives towards the common good provision. Potentialities and further applications of the CGP scale to other contexts are discussed in relation to the promotion of people’s wellbeing and sustainable development.

The Common Good and a Teleological Conception of Rights

Theoria ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (157) ◽  
pp. 100-122
Author(s):  
Sabelo Ndwandwe
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
African Philosophy ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Normative Significance ◽  
The Common ◽  
Rights Discourse

A common communitarian criticism of rights discourse picks at the individualistic picture of rights which is said to presuppose a society where persons are conscious of their separateness. In contrast, an African communitarian society is said to put less emphasis on individual interests; it encourages harmony, not divergence of interests, competition, and conflict. Thus, preoccupation with rights would be incompatible with and even hostile to the possibility of community. This article argues the opposite; it submits that rights and community are mutually constitutive. To this end, I explore T. H. Green’s social recognition thesis which reconceptualises rights and obligations in a teleological framework. When conceived in this fashion, rights transcend antithetical relations between individuals and society as typified by classical natural rights thinkers. I argue that, considering a normative significance of the common good, a compelling account of rights in African philosophy is better conceived in a teleological framework.

A Life of Good Governance, Positive Activism, Accountability & Integrated Thinking: An Interview with Mervyn King

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ghio ◽  
Nicholas McGuigan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Common

This paper provides a critical discussion of integrated thinking, accountability, and corporate governance through an explorative interview with global corporate governance expert and positive activist Mervyn King. In a period in which the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are encouraging organizations to be connected and accountable to society and the environment, Mervyn King’s groundbreaking global corporate governance vision highlights how organizations may develop a “conscious leadership” to pursue the common good.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document