Comments on: Religious reasons & secular revelations http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/02/26/religious-reasons-secular-revelations/ Secularism, religion, and the public sphere Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:16:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: John Eley http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/02/26/religious-reasons-secular-revelations/#comment-2227 John Eley Thu, 08 May 2008 21:03:13 +0000 http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/immanent_frame/2008/02/26/religious-reasons-secular-revelations/#comment-2227 Professor Bellah along with most serious democratically inclined thinkers refers frequently to the common good and related terms such as the public good. I for one am still at a loss as to the exact meaning of this term. Does it refer to a common interest, a common goal, a commonly agreed upon outcome, a distribution of resources that is in the general interest, etc.? What is it exactly that any collectivity of humans could hold as a common good, given the scarcity of goods and services and wide variations in interests and values. Exactly what do the rich who own property and generate jobs for others have as a common good with those who own no property and do not hold jobs. What good could they hold in common? What pray tell is in the interest of all equally as one of the formulations goes? Is health care a common good, a collective good? Is it something that can be held in common? Aren't all goods held by individuals? Isn't it the case that the gain of one good by one individual is almost always a loss of some portion of that good by another individual? Are there any sum-sum situations of any significance in the public sphere? How does one square concerns with individual rights with concerns with the common good especially if one holds that the collectivity has rights? My right to benefit from my own efforts in proportion to my own effort is my good. How can someone share this good in common? Are we confusing a public good what all can have access to in some degree and from which none can legitimately be excluded with the common good? I for one would appreciate some clarity on this. Professor Bellah along with most serious democratically inclined thinkers refers frequently to the common good and related terms such as the public good. I for one am still at a loss as to the exact meaning of this term. Does it refer to a common interest, a common goal, a commonly agreed upon outcome, a distribution of resources that is in the general interest, etc.? What is it exactly that any collectivity of humans could hold as a common good, given the scarcity of goods and services and wide variations in interests and values. Exactly what do the rich who own property and generate jobs for others have as a common good with those who own no property and do not hold jobs. What good could they hold in common? What pray tell is in the interest of all equally as one of the formulations goes? Is health care a common good, a collective good? Is it something that can be held in common? Aren’t all goods held by individuals? Isn’t it the case that the gain of one good by one individual is almost always a loss of some portion of that good by another individual? Are there any sum-sum situations of any significance in the public sphere?

How does one square concerns with individual rights with concerns with the common good especially if one holds that the collectivity has rights? My right to benefit from my own efforts in proportion to my own effort is my good. How can someone share this good in common?

Are we confusing a public good what all can have access to in some degree and from which none can legitimately be excluded with the common good?

I for one would appreciate some clarity on this.

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