El fin del estado: el bien común

Abstract

In order to study the common political good as an end of the State, the author takes as his point of departure a complete causal analysis of that specific social group, studying its material, intrinsic and extrinsic formal, efficient, and final causes. The latter is identified with the common political good, which is characterized as a good, as a human good, as a social good, and as a political good. For it to be accomplished historically, one must bear in mind the exigencies which spring from the particular nature of man and the concrete circumstances in which these exigencies must be realized. With regard to the content of the common political good, the author studies, as aspects of the same, authority and order, the satisfaction of material necessities, and the realization of cultural, ethical, and political values. According to classical thought, the common good has served as a criterion which legitimizes forms of governments; in the face of the attacks of new criteria of classification which place emphasis upon the legitimacy of origin, and even this restricted to democratic legitimacy, the superiority in the practical order of the traditional doctrine is again put forth. An interesting problem is the articulation of two fundamental principies to construct a correct social order: that of the primacy of the common good, and the Principie of Subsidiarity. Against the theories which limit the common good, here the thesis that subsidiary action forms an integral part of the content of the common good is claimed. The common political good is a concrete good, a concrete perfective horizon of concrete persons. For this reason, it should be possible, and it should seek the greatest perfection within a determined mi/ieu. The virtue of prudence plays a central role in the search for the necessary means to realize, here and now. the ends known via discretion. Since prudence extends itself to the governing of the multitude. the importance of political prudence in the determination of the means of achieving the common political good is heightened. The author al so makes a brief analysis of the tasks of the State and of its role in the religious. moral. cultural. educational. and juridical spheres. In his final considerations, the author insists upon the political importance of the commond good, a concept which is lacking in individualistic and collectivistic conceptions. and whose role is diminished by different «personalisms».