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Common Good(s)

Mon, Apr 29

Many of the most powerful tools we can use in our search for good, meaningful work come from other people. To recognize the impact others have on our lives, and to more clearly identify the responsibilities we all have to work toward environments in which we can all flourish together, we've got to start thinking seriously about the idea of community. And this requires us to think about "common goods," goals that unify groups of people--neighborhoods, workforces, the citizens of a nation, etc.--in a network of genuine human relationships.

Goals - by the end of today's class, you will:

  1. Know what "Catholic Social Teaching" is, and what it's relevance is to the questions we've been asking;
  2. Understand the concept of the "common good," and the role it plays in systems like Aristotle's virtue ethics and Catholic Social Teaching; and
  3. See how ideas--like that of a "just wage" or "human dignity"--can play a role in helping us think about work communities that promote human flourishing.

Read This:

Primary reading: Morrison, "The Common Good"

Secondary reading: Berry, "The Idea of a Local Economy"

Note: Watch the first 18 minutes of the selected video for today (you can, but need not, watch the whole documentary).

Do This:

After completing the readings for today, consider the following questions (which we will talk about in class):

  • Perhaps surprisingly, the social or economic framework we use to conceptualize work and the workplace can make a big difference in terms of the problems or issues we're able to articulate. Consider how Catholic Social Tradition uses concepts like the "just wage" or "human dignity" to highlight the importance of the human person in the context of work. How does this differ from other ways of thinking about labor, employment, or business? 
  • Aristotle and others use the notion of the "common good" to think about what makes for a genuine community, and how we should weigh our responsibilities to ensure the flourishing of others to whom we relate. Do you think we have a robust concept of the common good in today's society? Are there any businesses that do? How might the way the monks of New Melleray Abbey think about the common good differ from the way the management at AirBnb thinks about it?

Watch This: