Children, Common Good, and Society
Children, Common Good, and Society

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the interconnectedness between the issues of the good of the child, the child as constituting the good in himself or herself, and the common good of society. It juxtaposes the perspective of personalism and individualism, rights versus duties, goods, and commitments, while linking the issues of freedom and love as fulfilment of freedom. The paper discusses these issues by examples of tendencies towards growing individualism noticed by some authors in changes of American divorce laws, the so-called collaborative reproduction, and in the possibilities of genetic engineering. Arguments quoted or discussed are taken from John Paul II, Helen M. Alvare, Michele M. Schumacher, Mary Ann Glendon, Michael J. Sandel, and Jurgen Habermas. The article calls for the social recognition of the child (and every person) as the common good and points to the social attractiveness of the perspective of giftedness of human nature and social relations exemplified especially in the relation between the mother and the child, which needs to be recognized by various institutions of society.

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