Political Community, Common Good, and Agents’ Identity: A Thomistic Proposal for Human Flourishing



• Political Community, Common Good, and Agents’ Identity: A Thomistic Proposal for Human Flourishing

  Item Type	Journal Article
  Author	Giulia Codognato
  Abstract	The paper criticizes contemporary pluralism because its exaltation of human freedom conceals systemic injustices in economic, social, and political domains. Drawing on Aquinas and MacIntyre’s accounts, the paper explores what makes human beings flourish, that is, to live a good human life qua human beings. The paper contends that human flourishing occurs if agents develop a virtuous conduct through which they can realize their nature. The political community, which is constituted of other communities that constitute social groups, is crucial for fostering desirable practices that contribute to individual and collective flourishing. Emphasizing a narrative approach to personal identity, the paper contends that recognizing a common good as the orienting principle for individual and collective pursuits leads to human flourishing. The paper advocates for a normative conception that prioritizes the pursuit of the common good, asserting the inseparability of personal identity and of social and political identity within a just political community.
  Date	2026
  Language	English
  Library Catalog	193; 113; 115; 126; 210
  License	© 2026 by Aletheia - Associação Científica e Cultural
  Volume	82
  Place	Braga
  Publisher	Axioma - Publicações da Faculdade de Filosofia
  Section	Schelling’s Legacy in Contemporary Philosophy. Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Schelling’s Birth
  Pages	307-326
  Publication	Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia
  DOI	10.17990/RPF/2026_82_1_0307
  Issue	1-2
  Journal Abbr	RPF
  ISSN	0870-5283 ; 2183-461X
  Date Added	7/31/2026, 8:54:44 PM
  Modified	8/1/2026, 2:17:10 PM

  Tags:

  • Thomas Aquinas
  • Alasdair MacIntyre
  • Common Good
  • Human Flourishing
  • Natural Inclinations
  • Political Community
  • Political Identity
  • Practices

  Notes:

  • Anscombe G.E.M. “Modern Moral Philosophy.” Philosophy 33, no. 124 (1958a): 1-16, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819100037943.

    Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologiae. Translated by The Fathers of the English Dominican Province, edited by Kelvin Knight, 2017, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/.

    De Anna, Gabriele. Authority and the Metaphysics of Political Communities. New York: Routledge, 2020.

    Haslanger, Sally. Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

    MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981.

    MacIntyre, Alasdair. Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988.

    MacIntyre, Alasdair. First Principles, Final Ends, and Contemporary Philosophical Issues. The Aquinas Lecture, 1990. Milwaukee, Marquette University Press, 1990a.

    MacIntyre, Alasdair. Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopedia, Genealogy, and Tradition. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990b.

    MacIntyre, Alasdair. Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues. Chicago: Open Court Publishing, 1999.

    MacIntyre, Alasdair. Ethics and Politics. Selected Essays, Volume 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

    MacIntyre, Alasdair. Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity: An Essay on Desire, Practical Reasoning, and Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.

    Maletta, Sante. Biografia della ragione. Saggio sulla filosofia politica di MacIntyre. Con un contributo di Alasdair MacIntyre. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino Editore, 2007.

    Maletta, Sante. Un aristotelismo sovversivo. MacIntyre oltre il dis-ordine liberale. Milano-Udine: Mimesis Edizioni, 2020.

    Osborne, Thomas. “MacIntyre, Thomism and the Contemporary Common Good.” Analyse & Kritik 30 (2008): 75-90, https://doi.org/10.1515/auk-2008-0105.

    Young, Iris Marion. Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.

    Young, Iris Marion. “Equality of Whom? Social Groups and Judgments of Injustice.” The Journal of Political Philosophy 9, no.1 (2001): 1-19, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9760.00115.