Philosophy Now Forum

The Meaning of Art • A Dance to the Music of Thought • Philosophy and the Greater Good • Talking Straight About Ray Tallis • Seeds of Dissent • Je Suis Vraiment Libéral

https://philosophynow.org/issues/109/Letters

There is a letter here that caught my attention under the title "Philosophy and the Greater Good". It wonders how we should define the utilitarian "Greater Good" in today's complex world. When John Mill talked about the Greater Good in the ninetieth century it was a simpler world and a notion easier to grasp.

I would define the Greater Good for our global community as the thing that satisfies four human invariant needs, that of survival, security, order and recognition ("self-extension")