Michael Novak and Yves R. Simon on the Common Good and Capitalism

Michael Novak and Yves R. Simon on the Common Good and Capitalism
Author: Thomas R. Rourke
Publisher:
Total Pages: 267
Release: 1996
Genre: Christian sociology
ISBN:

The article evaluates Michael Novak's theory of the common good by comparing it with Yves Simon's writings. Simon's insights reveal that Novak's argument for a "new concept" of the common good, incorporating liberal claims, falters on both theoretical and practical grounds. Theoretically, Novak's version of the common good opens the door to considerable exclusion from participation in the material benefits of society. Related to this is Novak's problematic contention that political authority should not intend the common good materially considered. Practically, his idealized version of capitalism plays down or ignores problems raised by Simon, particularly "one-way" exchanges, unequal exchange, and "illusory services."

Virtue in Political Life

Virtue in Political Life
Author: Patrick Lafon
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2017-09-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9956763349

Yves R. Simon (1903-1961), one of the greatest contemporary philosophers, gives a modern formulation for many classical philosophical concepts such as authority, the common good, and natural law. These topics have received extensive attention from scholars. Simon also discusses the nature of human virtue, moral and intellectual, but this topic has been less studied until now. The idea of virtue, and in our case virtue in political life, runs through Simons works. Through a close study of Simons works and the relevant secondary literature, this book explores Simons definition of virtue in order to highlight its originality, and show how he weaves the need for it into the fabric of three facets of political life, namely, the common good, the virtue of the ruler and the ruled, and the law. These ideas are important for the ruler-ship of any country and especially of developing nations which are populated by sit-tight dictators. Philosophy can be dry and abstract, yet in this case we deal with one of its more practical manifestations.