Empirical Foundations of the Common Good: What Theology Can Learn from Social Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-341
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Daly ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Common Good ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common

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.

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.

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