Introductory speech at the Common Good Forum, Paris Aug 25 2013

1. Prof. Claude Rochet
http://claude-rochet.fr
Common Good Forum Paris 25 aout 2013

2. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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*The first Resistance against nazi and
Vichy rule was spiritual
*A legal regime is illegitimate if it
infringes the principles of the common
good
*Citizens may appreciate the legitimacy
in the eyes of the natural right

3. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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“…not the individual good, but
the common good is what
makes Cities great. And,
without doubt, this common
good is not observed except
in Republics »
Machiavelli, Discourses, II, 2
« … it should be said that the common
good of the city and the particular good
of one person differ not only according
to quantity (to much and little), but
according to a formal difference. The
meaning of the common good and that
of the singular good are different, just
as the meaning of the whole and the
part are different. »
Summa Theologica II-II, q. 58, 7 ad 2
More than the sum of the parts, so…
… Where stands the common good?
… Who, and how to, define(s) it?
….What is it for?

4. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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*The Sharing of the Good:
*Pooling the good(s): i.e public services, commons…
*The Commonality of the Common Good
*Has everyone access to the good in common?: i.e equality of access
to public services, capacity to use the commons (A. Sen)
*The Good of the Common Good
*The systemic effect of the common good:
* How the good of the individual improves by living in a society ruled by
the common good
* How the interplay between the one and the global improves the common
good?
Ref: Gaston Fessard “Autorité et bien commun”

5. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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*The sum of the private
goods
*The common goodS
*The general interest
*A defined moral norm
*A convention from the
contractual law
*A decision of the ruler or of
the majority against the
minority
*More than the sum: an
emerging reality
*The use of the goods
*A permanent process of
deliberation
*General lines to be found
by human reason according
to the principles of natural
right
*
The common good is a deliberative process, not a content!

6. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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*Political:
*A demarcation line between negative liberty (each individual is
naturally free and knows what is good for him: the common good is the
sum of private goods, Cf. Isaïah Berlin) and positive liberty (man
aspires to liberty but is not free: liberty is a constructivist process, Cf
Machiavelli, A. Sen)
*Without common good, there is no political life since there is no end
for the society that is superior to individual ends
*The common good requires an active political life, the Machiavelli’s
vivere politico that allows the many of the people to offset the power
of the few rich.
The common good can’t exist without deliberation and confrontation :
the common good is the source of the legitimacy of the State

7. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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*Economical:
* A demarcation line between
economy as a man created activity
(increasing returns economy) and
economy as nature given activity
(decreasing returns)
* The assumption of a common good
incites to institutions that favor
synergies between economic
activities
* Synergies reinforce the common
good since global prosperity
depends on the interplay between
each economic player & vv.
Global prosperity is not the sum of selfishness but the
product of synergies brought about by the common good

8. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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*Social:
*A demarcation line between liberal individualism (each one is
responsible for his own fate) and republicanism (capacitation +
meritocracy + protection against misfortune)
*Each man is guided by benevolence toward others and hungers for
justice (Cicero’s mutual offices, Renaissance civic humanism, Adam
Smith’s sympathy…)
*Social life is the source of (informal) institutions at small scale
(Oström) and the State is the institution of institutions (Hauriou) at
large scale
Prosperity relies on citizens’ commitment in social life

9. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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*Emergence: A reality that doesn’t exist in itself but is the abstract
product of interactions between tangible realities that allows the global
system of the society to be consistent
Polity Economy Social life
Common
Good
*This system is dynamic and adaptive: it maintains its stability
through transition and change

10. 25/08/13Prof. Claude Rochet - Coomon good forum Paris
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LOVE - SENSE
MORAL
LAW & POLITICS
TECHNO-ECONOMIC
Angélism
Cynism
Tyranny
Common good
Ordering your thinking
according logical categories:
A problem in each categories
has its own logic, but needs
to resort to the superior
category.
Ignoring this leads either to
cynism (rash materialism),
angelism (ignoring the
contingency) or tyranny
(reducing every problem to
one category)
(Inspired from Blaise Pascal)