Karol Wojtyła on Community, Participation, and the Common Good

Abstract

After a cursory review of Wojtyła’s anthropology and his philosophy of freedom as self-transcendence aiming at the true good, this paper turned to his treatment of intersubjective relationships. We explained the core concept of participation, a property of the person whereby he maintains the personalistic value of his actions while also working together with others for the realization of a common end. Participation becomes reality in a community only when it has a proper subjective common good in addition to its objective common good. The former fosters the normative conditions that make participation possible. Anterior to the common good in its totality is the “common good” for all human beings constituted by the bona honesta. Building and sustaining strong communities requires the engagement and solidarity of its members, which sometimes expresses itself through opposition.

Keywords

• common good
• community
• freedom
• participation
• personalism
• personalistic value
• social philosophy
• transcendence
• wojtyła