认为很有道理。
“The common good” is a meaningless concept, unless taken
literally, in which case its only possible meaning is : the sum of the good of
all the individual men involved. But in that case, the concept is meaningless
as a moral criterion: it leaves open the question of what is the good of
individual men and how does one determine?
It is not, however, in its literal meaning that that concept
is generally used. It is accepted precisely its elastic, undefinable, mystical
character which serves, not as a moral guide, but as an escape from morality.
Since the good is not applicable to the disembodied, it becomes a moral blank
check for those who attempt to embody it.
When “the common good” of a society is regarded as something
apart from and superior to the individual good of its members, it means that
the good of some men takes precedence over the good of others, with those
others consigned to the status of sacrificial animals. It is tacitly assumed,
in such cases, that “the common good” means “the good of the majority” as
against the minority or the individual. Observe the significant fact that that assumption is tacit: even the
most collectivized mentalities seem to sense the impossibility of justifying it
morally. But “the good of the majority” too, is only a pretense and a delusion:
since , in fact, violation of an individual’s rights means the abrogation of
all rights, it delivers the helpless majority into the power of any gang that
proclaims itself to be “the voice of society” and proceeds to rule by means of
physical force, until deposed by another gang employing the same means.
