COLLEGE OF LAW, GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

A221 2022/2023

GFPA2023 POLITICAL THEORIES

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (ARTICLE REVIEW-15%)

TITLE: ARISTOTLE ON THE CONDITIONS FOR AND LIMITS OF THE

COMMON GOOD BY THOMAS W. SMITH

Prepared for:

DR. NOR AZURA BINTI A. RAHMAN

Prepared by:

HARITH RAHIMY BIN KHAIRUDDIN 288707

 TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGES

Table of Content 1

1.0 Introduction 2

2.0 Issues Discussed About the Article 3

3.0 Criticized Issues in The Article 4

5.0 Conclusion 5

Reference 6

1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
According to the article titled Aristotle on the Conditions for and Limits of the Common
Good written by Thomas W. Smith, Aristotle says that injustice stands in the way of the
common good. He also says that the common good necessitates a shift away from external
goods and toward pleasant pursuits that do not diminish with sharing. From that, he creates an
analogical explanation of familial and political ties, leaving us to question about the political
conditions for the common good. Reflecting on these criteria not only highlights the stringent
boundaries of the common good, but also speaks to both sides of the liberal philosophy
argument.

At the beginning of the article, the author stated that the common good was previously
a significant issue in political theory because it provided a framework for considering the link
between individual interests and collective goals. However, Liberal thinkers believe that the
common good cannot be sustained politically for a wide range of reasons, including the truth
that the "common" good is anybody else's vice. Some liberal analysts claim that since no one
is a good representation of what is the best for ourselves than we are, neither ethical or religious
leaders nor any community have the authority to force their beliefs on us.

In a contrary vein, Rawls says that the liberal communities must be established on
multiple consensus instead of the kind of further agreement that the common good would
appear to entail. Political neutrality is often required by liberal ideology in order to provide
universal methods that allow equality in pursuit of individual interests. This neutrality stems
from the social contract of the community, which allows individuals to seek their preferred
good without fear of force. Thus, in liberal philosophy, the basis for political authority and
legitimacy is not the common good, but rather the free contract between rational individuals
for the protection of their fundamental rights.

They often claim that liberalism's focus on personal rights obscures how people’s
choices identities are established via participation in community and political life. Since Marx
believed that liberal discourse obscures the ways in which its political order favors one group
over another, political neutrality has been challenged as a fallacy. For these reasons, political
philosophy must re-examine the link between individual and community interests.

2
2.0 ISSUES DISCUSSED IN THE ARTICLE

From 384 until 322 B.C., Aristotle was a Greek philosopher. He is widely regarded as
one of the most significant intellectuals in Western history, and he is also known as the "Father
of Logic" and the "Father of Science." During his tenure at Plato's Academy, he published
various philosophical treatises, which were later combined into the now-famous "Nicomachean
Ethics." Aristotle answers essential problems regarding leading a happy life in Nicomachean
Ethics. According to Aristotle, the objective of human existence is eudaimonia. According to
Aristotle, the good life is one in which we live up to our full human potential. Happiness is
critical to this process and without it, people will not be able to realize their full potential.

According to Aristotle, every living or human-made item, including its parts, has a
specific or characteristic function or activity that distinguishes it from all other things. The
best moral virtue of a thing is the proper execution of its characteristic function, as well as the
virtue or perfection of a thing is whatever features or attributes enable it to perform that job
successfully. As a result, eudaimonia is the successful execution of a human being's
characteristic function, whatever that role may be, and human virtue or excellence is the
combination of traits or attributes that allows humans to successfully execute that function..
According to Aristotle, the ability to reason is the distinguishing feature of humans that sets
them apart from all other things.

Nonetheless, the concept of the common good remains important in contemporary

politics because it identifies the possibility that politics can be about more than building an
institutional framework for the narrow pursuit of individual self-interest in the essentially
private domain of liberalized markets. The common good demonstrates how individuals can
achieve freedom, autonomy, and self-government through collective action and active
involvement, not as atomized consumers but as active citizens in the public realm of politics.
It also allows for the prospect of political engagement having intrinsic value in and of itself, in
addition to the instrumental value of protecting the common good.

Aristotle distinguishes political groups by identifying the type of philia that prevails
within them. People in such societies who understand the meaning of their shared existence
will have no benefit in amassing more than their fair share of limited resources because they
are focused on the meaning of loving. To summarize, citizens in such a system have an
incentive to act justly toward one another since just acts ensure the relationships that allow for
the pursuit of common advantage.

3
3.0 CRITICIZED ISSUES IN THE ARTICLE

Attempts to appeal to the common good also have surfaced in discussions about firms'
social responsibilities, environmental destruction, our insufficient investment in education, and
the problems of crime and poverty issues. It appears that social critics everywhere are
suggesting that our most fundamental social issues stem from a widespread pursuit of
individual interests. The concept of the common good dates back over two thousand years, to
Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero's writings. More recently, the ethicist John Rawls defined the
common good as a set of universal circumstances that benefit everyone equally.

There is also pros and cons in the common good. The pros of the common good is
pursuing the common good is aligned with most ethical and philosophical traditions,
particularly utilitarianism, and given that humans have evolved to rely on trust, social support
systems, and the psychological rewarding of altruism, it is probably a good idea to put some
value in it from a person happiness perspective. However, there are multiple debates regarding
what the common good is and how it may or should be balanced with other factors such as
personal freedom, and in many circumstances, a dominant notion of the common good can be
used to suppress potentially reasonable disagreement with it.

Politics, Aristotle's work, primarily features his political theory. His work is closely tied
to Aristotle's principal work on ethics, Nicomachean Ethics, and analyses the principles of good
government, action, and leadership. Because a good government generates happiness and
virtue in its residents, and citizens who display their virtues contribute to a good government,
the two works are inextricably intertwined. Politics, according to Aristotle, includes both
legislative action and persuasive discourse. Aristotle's management was concerned with more
than only public defense, collecting wealth, and resolving conflicts. Good government consists
of institutions that allow people to completely develop and express their rational powers.

Aristotle claims that the activity peculiar to people is the use of reason; thus, sound
reasoning defines a decent human being. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that various
persons possessed varying degrees of intellectual power. Women, for example, were only
rational to the extent that they could obey rational directives. He didn't think women could
formulate rational aims for themselves. Similarly, Aristotle felt that certain people were born
as natural slaves, unable of acting rationally based on their own talents. Despite the fact that
his understanding of slavery was unrelated to 'race,' Aristotle built a philosophy of reason to
promote patriarchy and slavery.

4
4.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it is evident that Aristotle is pessimistic about the chance that his
arguments will accomplish the desired change. Perhaps as a result, his political proposals
frequently have less to do with promoting virtue and more to do with guaranteeing stability and
prosperity. As a result, Aristotle may underline that communitarian critics of liberalism should
be concerned not to damage what is the best in the process of cleaning out what is evil. For a
contemporary Aristotelian, criticizing liberalism must be accompanied by continual reminders
of the tradition's magnificence and the methods in which it promotes the common good by
means of growth and peace. Other than that, for an Aristotelian, criticisms of liberalism that
desire for its demise and seek community cultivation. Overall, Aristotle views moral value to
be in the middle, and the decent people to be one whose emotions, impulses, and appetites are
neither excessive nor deficient. Human choice wants the better, or the viewed good, and the
power to make extraordinary choices requires a thorough comprehension of a given situation,
solid practical reasoning skills, and a well-developed and virtuous character.

5
REFERENCES:

1. Oppong, T. (2022, September 21). Aristotle's principles for a good life. Medium.
Retrieved December 1, 2022, from https://medium.com/personal-growth/aristotles-
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2. Duignan, B. (2019). Eudaimonia | Greek philosophy. In Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/eudaimonia
3. Lee, S. (2019). Common good | philosophy. In Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/common-good
4. Santa Clara University. (2018). The Common Good. @SantaClaraUniv.
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/the-common-
good/
5. Austin W.A.G. (2021). What are the pros and cons of the common good? (2022).
Quora. https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-the-common-good
6. Anon (2022). Study.com. https://study.com/learn/lesson/aristotle-political-philosophy-
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7. Anon (n.d). Aristotle. Community.plu.edu.
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8. Smith, T. W. (1999). Aristotle on the Conditions for and Limits of the Common Good.
The American Political Science Review, 93(3), 625–636.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2585578