Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Search for the Common Good: Beyond the Normative and the Natural
- Part II Three Diagnostic Thinkers in Pursuit of the Common Good
- Part III The Fragility of the Common Good
- Chapter 8 “A fundamental change in political paradigms”
- Chapter 9 Politics as a domain of uncertainty
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 8 - “A fundamental change in political paradigms”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Search for the Common Good: Beyond the Normative and the Natural
- Part II Three Diagnostic Thinkers in Pursuit of the Common Good
- Part III The Fragility of the Common Good
- Chapter 8 “A fundamental change in political paradigms”
- Chapter 9 Politics as a domain of uncertainty
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
I have argued that the exceptional volatility of our situation is forcing upon us a reassessment of both politics and political philosophy. Our diagnosis has shown that both are today in crisis. In the course of this political crisis new forms of political order have come into being (mass democracy, totalitarian government, the corporate state, supra-national alliances and organizations), new political forces have been unleashed (imperialism, anti-colonialism, global capitalism, contemporary terrorism in all its colors), and new political ideologies have sprung up (liberalism, socialism, anarchism, Communism, fascism, National Socialism, libertarianism, Islamic jihadism).
These transformations have disrupted the practice of politics and just as much our understanding of it. We have become unsure, in consequence, of the possibilities and the limitations of politics. We find it impossible to agree on a common good. Even worse, we are losing sight of the need to search for any such good. We are in danger of losing politics itself in this process since it has the search for the common good as one of its objects. But human life cannot do well without a shared pursuit of the good and a sense of community. Even individuality cannot flourish without a common language, shared concepts, and a shared culture. Everybody speaks of the threats to our natural environment; the disintegration of our political order is even more insidious because less noticed. It reveals that there are dangers that come from within in addition to those from outside.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Politics and the Search for the Common Good , pp. 203 - 230Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014