The Rehabilitation of the Concept of Public Good

Abstract

Abstract The concept of “self-interest” that guided the liberal economists, and the ontology of individualism that underpinned Rawls’s writings, have not proved adequate for understanding politics and the logic of collective action in terms of which politics necessarily operates. This chapter will not seek to provide a modification or revision of the liberal views, or of utilitarianism, but it will proffer a new normative theory which is necessary in the current age to guide politics. The chapter argues that new models of science which gained ascendancy from the start of the 20th century, as well as poststructuralist ideas, can assist in a reconceptualization of the idea of public good to guide politics, accommodate liberty and diversity, and overcome liberal objections.