IN A FREE SOCIETY THE GENERAL GOOD CONSISTS PRINCIPALLY IN THE FACILITATION OF THE PURSUIT OF UNKNOWN INDIVIDUAL PURPOSES
In a free society, the main goal is to help individuals pursue their own unknown purposes instead of pushing for specific shared interests. It is widely accepted that the government should only use force when it serves the public good. However, defining what the public good is can be very difficult. Often, people in power describe their interests as public interests, allowing them to make many individuals support goals they don’t care about.
People often think that the public interest is just the sum of all private interests, but in a complex society, individuals’ needs and wishes are usually unknown to both the government and each other. Therefore, the key role of the government is not to meet everyone’s specific needs but to create conditions where individuals and smaller groups can fulfill their own needs.
Historically, many thinkers understood that the government should focus on keeping an order that allows for different ways to satisfy personal needs. Terms like public utility and justice have been linked closely in the past, and during the Middle Ages, maintaining peace and justice was often considered the real public interest. In a big society where most people do not know one another, it is hard to agree on specific goals. Instead, people should agree on the means to reach different ends without needing to have the same goals.
The idea is that by following general rules, people can still work together without knowing how those rules will benefit them individually. This is possible because no one can predict exactly how applying certain rules will turn out. The unpredictability of outcomes allows everyone to think that they might benefit from the rules equally.
The rules of conduct in a large society are not created based on anticipated results but are developed through adapting to situations that commonly occur. These rules serve as tools for dealing with likely scenarios. They come from past experiences rather than from specific plans aimed at known outcomes. Overall, the public good represented by these rules helps individuals pursue their own aims while also maintaining a stable social order.
In a free society, the main goal is to help individuals pursue their own unknown purposes instead of pushing for specific shared interests. It is widely accepted that the government should only use force when it serves the public good. However, defining what the public good is can be very difficult. Often, people in power describe their interests as public interests, allowing them to make many individuals support goals they don’t care about.
People often think that the public interest is just the sum of all private interests, but in a complex society, individuals’ needs and wishes are usually unknown to both the government and each other. Therefore, the key role of the government is not to meet everyone’s specific needs but to create conditions where individuals and smaller groups can fulfill their own needs.
Historically, many thinkers understood that the government should focus on keeping an order that allows for different ways to satisfy personal needs. Terms like public utility and justice have been linked closely in the past, and during the Middle Ages, maintaining peace and justice was often considered the real public interest. In a big society where most people do not know one another, it is hard to agree on specific goals. Instead, people should agree on the means to reach different ends without needing to have the same goals.
The idea is that by following general rules, people can still work together without knowing how those rules will benefit them individually. This is possible because no one can predict exactly how applying certain rules will turn out. The unpredictability of outcomes allows everyone to think that they might benefit from the rules equally.
The rules of conduct in a large society are not created based on anticipated results but are developed through adapting to situations that commonly occur. These rules serve as tools for dealing with likely scenarios. They come from past experiences rather than from specific plans aimed at known outcomes. Overall, the public good represented by these rules helps individuals pursue their own aims while also maintaining a stable social order.