Philosophical outlines of the common good and its never-ending division

The common good is the final causality (telos) of living together. Both public order and a public moral virtue participate to its realization. Through a never-ending reference to human solidarity, language articulates its implementation and division. The expression «common good» is a commonplace in political philosophy. As with any common expression, everyone tends to attribute his/her own personal definition to it. To clarify «common good» in a philosophical perspective, one can begin with an analysis of its two composite words («good» and «common») and then proceed with a reasoning based on the social nature of the expression. Shared by all as a reasonable truth, a commonplace (I intend here the topoi of Aristotle) is a map to understand the values that constitute the reflections of human beings about their lives. Any commonplace lacks exactitude on certain points because, similar to common sense, it is made of intuitions. Nevertheless, a truth about humanity emerges from intuition, which speaks to us spontaneously.