The Common

Good

2nd CST Principle

-- What is good?

-- Is good really common?

-- Is it good that all bus

companies will be suspended

due to the single horrendous

accident in Tanay Rizal?

-- Is it good to suspend all off-

campus activities due to the

incident in Tanay Rizal involving

Beslink students?

COMMON GOOD

Reading materials:

Compendium of the Social

Doctrine of the Church par

164-184

COMMON GOOD

stems from the

dignity,

unity and

equality of all people

COMMON GOOD

“the sum total of socialconditions which allowpeople, either as groups oras individuals, to reachtheir fulfilment more fullyand more easily”.[346](CST 164)

COMMON GOOD

Keywords:

-- sum total

-- social conditions

-- reach fulfillment

-- more fully/easily

COMMON GOOD

Keywords:

-- sum total

-- social conditions

-- reach fulfillment

-- more fully/easily

Common?

Everyone & Each

Indivisible

Only together can it be

Attained

Increased

safeguarded

Common?

Only together ….

involves all members ofsociety, no one is exemptfrom cooperating,according to each one'spossibilities, in attaining itand developing it (167)

COMMON GOOD

Also known as:

The social and community

dimension of the moral

good. (CST 164)

What is GOOD

--respect for & integral

promotion of the person

and his fundamental rights

HOW TO SECURE

COMMON GOOD1. commitment to peace,

2. the organization of the State'spowers,

3. a sound juridical system,

4. the protection of the environment,

5. and the provision of essentialservices to all,

(CST 166)

HOW TO SECURE COMMON

GOOD

Essential Services= human rights

food, housing, work, education and

access to culture, transportation,

basic health care, the freedom of

communication and expression,

and the protection of religious

freedom

The Principle of Common Good

leads to a new understanding of

the political community.

What is government?

168. The responsibility for attaining

the common good, besides falling

to individual persons, belongs also

to the State, since the common

good is the reason that the political

authority exists[355].

Duty of the government:

harmonize the different sectoral

interests with the requirements

of justice

Universal Destination of Goods

What goods?

Earth’s goods

Universal Destination of Goods

What is the meaning of

universal destination?

Earth’s goods

Universal Destination of Goods

It means: Universal Right to

USE THE GOODS OF THE

EARTH

Do I have right to use the goods of the earth?

YES, I have rights.

The right to the common use of goods is the “first principle of the whole ethical and social order”

(CST 172)

If I have rights to use, can I use it

anytime I want?

Each person must have access to

the level of well-being necessary

for his full development. (CST 172)

The right to use is the problem of access:

Equitable & orderly fashion

Regulation

Interventions for the commongood

Juridical order – adjudicates thespecific use of this right

Subsidiarity

3rd CST Principle

Reading Materials:

Compendium of the Social

Doctrine of the Church par. 185-

191

How do students relate with teachers?

How do teachers relate with

administrators?

In UST, with so many actors, how are

we going to interact with each other?

In the family, how do children & parents

relate with one another?

In a political community, how do the

people and the politicians relate with

one another?

Associations/Relations

family,

groups,

associations,

local territorial realities

Mechanism of associations

economic,

social,

cultural,

sports-oriented, recreational,

professional and

political

Civil Society

sum of the relationships

between individuals and

intermediate social

groupings

Civil Society

????

Individual vs group

Group vs society

Community vs nation

Sector vs community

Civil Society

Problem of Order

Problem of justice

Subsidiarity

a most important

principle of

“social philosophy”

(CST 186)

Subsidiarity (meaning)

“Just as it is gravely wrong to take from

individuals what they can accomplish by their

own initiative and industry and give it to the

community, so also it is an injustice and at the

same time a grave evil and disturbance of right

order to assign to a greater and higher

association what lesser and subordinate

organizations can do. For every social activity

ought of its very nature to furnish help to the

members of the body social, and never destroy

and absorb them”[399].

Subsidiarity (meaning)

Relation of:

individual and group

lower and higher

Subordinate and superior

Double edge-Relation

(1) gravely wrong to take fromindividuals what they canaccomplish by their own initiativeand industry and give it to thecommunity,

(2) injustice and at the same time agrave evil and disturbance of rightorder to assign to a greater andhigher association what lesser andsubordinate organizations can do

Implication

Superior/higher/group

(1) all societies of a superior

order must adopt attitudes of

help (“subsidium”) — therefore of

support, promotion, development

— with respect to lower-order

societies.

Implication

Superior/higher/group

(2) freedom, initiative, autonomy

& responsibility of the individual,

lower, and subordinate should

not be supplanted/deprived

Implication

Democratization & equality of

members

Issues to ponder:

Kung kaya ni mister kaya din ni

misis

Kung kaya ng babae, kaya din ng

lalaki

Implication

No to the ff:

centralization, bureaucratization,

welfare assistance and

to the unjustified and excessive presence of the State in public mechanisms.

Effective

governance/groups/civil

society

respect and effective

promotion of the human

person and the family;

a part” of the political and

social reality of their

country.

Effective

governance/groups/civil

society

ever greater appreciation of

associations and intermediate

organizations in their

fundamental choices and in

those that cannot be

delegated to or exercised by

others;

Effective

governance/groups/civil

society

the encouragement of private initiative so that every social entity remains at the service of the common good, each with its own distinctive characteristics

Effective

governance/groups/civil

society

the presence of pluralism

in society and due

representation of its vital

components;

Effective

governance/groups/civil

society

safeguarding human rights

and the rights of minorities;

bringing about bureaucratic

and administrative

decentralization;

Effective governance/groups/civil

society

striking a balance between the

public and private spheres, with

the resulting recognition of the

social function of the private

sphere;

Effective governance/groups/civil

society

appropriate methods for making

citizens more responsible in

actively “being a part” of the

political and social reality of their

country.

Doctrine of Participation

contributes to the cultural,

economic, political and

social life of the civil

community to which one

belongs

Subsidiarity (on the part of the individual, lower, member)

Subsidiarity (on the part of the

individual, lower, member)

Doctrine of Participation

duty to be fulfilled

consciously by all, with

responsibility and with a

view to the common good[

Can subsidiarity exist in:

Totalitarian

Communist

Dictatorial regimes?

Solidarity4th Principle

Reading Material:

Compedium of the Social

Doctrine of the Church par.

192-196

Basic truths of human existence

intrinsic social nature of the human person, the

equality of all in dignity and rights and the

common path of individuals and peoples

towards an ever more committed unity.

Basic truths of human existence

1) The intrinsic social nature of the

human person,

2) the equality of all in dignity and

rights

3) The common path of individuals

and peoples towards an ever more

committed unity.

Basic truths of human existence

These 3 basic truths

Leads to the 4th principle

SOLIDARITY

The 3 basic truths summarized in the principle of solidarity implies

Interdependence

Interconnectedness

between individual & peoples at every level

The 3 basic truths summarized in the principle of solidarity implies

Interdependence

Interconnectedness

between individual & peoples at every level

Technology??

Did it connect us or separate

us?

Problem of interdependence

(1) inequalities between developed

and developing countries,

(2) inequalities stoked also by

various forms of exploitation,

oppression and corruption locally

and internally

Principle of solidarity

Based on the notion of

interpedence

demands equal and equitable

development for all

Inferences:

1. The increasing gap between developing anddeveloped countries indicates the absence andcontinuing disregard for solidarity.

2. The current global economic and political structurethat allows the developed countries to progressexponentially while impoverishes thedeveloping/under-developed countries clearlyindicate the unequal and unfair treatment to all;some are treated as more humans than others, aclear disregard of the principle of Solidarity

3. As long as there are sectors of society who feelexploited and oppressed clearly indicate that suchsociety violates the principle of solidarity and inter-dependence

Inferences:

1. Furthermore, the principle of interdependence

leads us to the conclusion that a society is

unjust and unfair by the mere presence of the

poor, exploited, marginalized and oppressed.

2. The injustice committed is simply based on the

fact that the structure-the socio-cultural,

economic and political-failed to provide equal

opportunities and development for all.

ethical-social solidarity

It is the inherent responsibility of

the individual/the group/the

community/the state to care,

support, assist, and develop the

poor, the exploited, the

oppressed and the marginalized.

ethical-social solidarity

Why am I oblige?

Under the principle of solidarity

1. Their being poor is partly myresponsibility

2. They are human beings likeme.

3. Most important, they are theimage of God.

ethical-social solidarity

Why am I oblige?

Under the principle of solidarity

1. Their being poor is partly myresponsibility

2. They are human beings likeme.

3. Most important, they are theimage of God.

ethical-social solidarity

Finally, I am obliged because

of the notion of

Debt

Utang-na-loob

to others and to society

The Way to LoveSummary of the principles

Reference reading:

Compendium of the Social

Doctrine of the Church par. 204-

208

The Way of Love

--is the deep bond that links all

the principles

--highest and universal

criterion of the whole of

social ethics.

The Way of Love

It is from the inner wellspring of

love that the values of truth,

freedom and justice are

born and grow.

Love

presupposes and

transcends

justice

WHY? IT IS BECAUSE

1. No legislation, no system of rules

or negotiation will ever succeed in

persuading men and peoples to

live in unity, brotherhood and

peace;

2. no line of reasoning will ever be

able to surpass the appeal of love.

Only LOVE . . .

in its quality as “form of the

virtues”[456], can animate

and shape social interaction,

moving it towards peace in

the context of a world that is

ever more complex.