Whose Good is the Common Good Anyway? A (Late) Response to Claus Offe

Abstract

This paper answers Claus Offe’s question about the social referent of the common good, i.e., what kinds of entities are beneficiaries of common good-related public policy. I reject two individualistic answers, according to which the reference point of the common good is the totality or majority of individual community members, respectively. Instead, I opt for a holistic answer, according to which the community qua social entity is the beneficiary of the common good.