6.7 Markus Krienke – What is the connection between common good and human dignity? The contribution of the Thomistic tradition to a reflection on common good

With its synthesis between the aspects of individuality and sociality of human nature, the Thomistic anthropology contains the elements to overcome the modern and late-modern antagonism between libertarism and communitarism which both fail to determine validly the conceptions of human dignity and of common good. This failure consists in their identification and reduces or the first to the latter or the latter to the first. Rosmini, who applies the Thomistic anthropology to modern political thought, proposes a diverse relationship between human dignity and common good in which both correct each other critically. This generates new definitions either for human dignity and for common good beyond their monopolization by the political discourse and on their authentic ethical-anthropological basis.