Transcript Common Good Approach - Moraine Park Technical College

Common Good Approach
LEARNING PLAN 5 – ETHICAL THEORIES
PRESENTATION
CHELSEA CHRISTIE
KEITH JENSEN
SARAH VAN BERKEL
ASHLEY SCHWIND
O C T O B E R 2 0 TH, 2 0 0 9
Common Good Approach
Summary
THIS APPROACH ASSUMES
A SOCIETY WITH
INDIVIDUALS WHOSE
OWN GOOD IS LINKED TO
THE GOOD OF THE
COMMUNITY.
Community
members
are bound
by the
pursuit of
common
values and
goals.
Summary continued…
Summary continued…
For the benefit of the
community, this approach
focuses on ensuring:
•Social Policies
•Social Systems
•Institutions
•Environment
Summary continued…
Examples of goods
common to all
include:
•Affordable healthcare
•Effective public safety
•Peace among nations
•A just legal system
•Unpolluted
environment
Summary
continued…
This urges us to…
View ourselves as members of the
same community
Reflect on questions concerning
society
Discuss how to achieve that society
Summary continued…
To achieve a common good one must
respect and value the freedom of
individuals to pursue their own goals.
This approach challenges people to
recognize and further the goals they have
in common.
Influences on the Development of
the Common Good Approach
MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS
AGO THIS APPROACH
ORIGINATED IN THE
WRITINGS OF PLATO,
ARISTOTLE, AND CICERO.
Influences continued…
For example,
Plato developed
an ideal that
generated
political
agreement that
produced unity.
Plato did this by
assuming certain
states of being
were good by
nature and that
human kind
could come to
know at least
part of that good.
Influences continued…
John Rawls defined the Common Good as…
“Certain general
conditions that are…
Equally to everyone’s
advantage.”
Criticism of the Common Good
Approach
INDIVIDUALISM
“FREE-RIDER PROBLEM”
PLURALISTIC SOCIETY
Criticisms continued…
Individualism
 Personal rights
 Historical traditions
 Individual freedom
 Individual goals &
interests
Criticisms continued…
“Free-rider problem”
Available to
everyone even
those who don’t
do their part.
Enough “Free-riders”
=
Common Good will be
destroyed
Criticisms continued…
Pluralistic society
Different
people have
different
ideas.
Impossible
to agree on
one social
system.
Application of Common Good
Approach
POLLUTION
Application continued…
How is the common good of
society affected by pollution?
Application continued…
 Pollution
affects
not only humans
but the whole
ecosystem
 Health risks
• Cancer
• Physical
deformities
• Reduced
energy levels
Application
continued…
Environmental
Risks
 Soil pollution
 Disrupt photosynthesis
 Acid rain
 Ozone holes
 Water pollution
Application continued…
From a common good
approach we as a society
are linked to the good of
the community. If we
reduce pollution the
WORLD
as a whole would benefit.
Review Questions
1. HOW COULD YOU SEE YOURSELF USING
THE COMMON GOOD APPROACH IN
YOUR OWN LIFE?
2. IS THE COMMON GOOD APPROACH
PRACTICAL IN TODAY’S
PREDICAMENTS?
3. ARE THERE ANY OTHER CRITICISMS
AGAINST THE COMMON GOOD
APPROACH?