Human Dignity and Liberal Politics: Catholic Possibilities for the Common Good (Martin J. D'Arcy, SJ Memorial Lectures)

A deeply considered examination of the “common good” reconciling Catholic Social Thought with secular politics and philosophyThe Second Vatican Council invites dialogue about the common good as the set of economic, political, legal, and cultural conditions for human flourishing, whether as individuals or as communities.However, some contemporary Catholic authors jeopardize this dialogue by polarizing liberalism and the common good, interpreting the commitment to individual liberty as incompatible with commitment to the common good.Human Dignity and Liberal Politics clarifies the meaning of the common good through the three lenses of Aristotelian practical philosophy, twentieth-century Catholic Social Thought, and political liberalism.It makes the case that embracing the common good does not entail a rejection of liberalism, but that a commitment to liberal politics is compatible with faithful adherence to the Catholic tradition.The book argues that liberal political philosophy is not o