This historical study examines events, institutions, experiences, and relationships in Pinkerton's life for educational significance in developing her extraordinary commitment to the common good. Data are viewed through the Deweyan lens of education as continuous, participative, and experiential. Additionally, the study illuminates from Pinkerton's speeches examples of her education of others regarding the need for the common good. Components of the common good found in the philosophical literature and ego transcendence stemming from a wisdom deep within oneself found in the literature of transpersonal psychology form the conceptual framework upon which this study builds. The chapters are thematic in scope with the content of each chapter presented chronologically to illuminate a continuous education. The study revealed an integral interaction of education, spirituality, and history in the development and educative embodiment of Pinkerton's transpersonal commitment to the common good. Pinkerton lived a uniquely structured life as a member of the Congregation of Saint Joseph religious community. Emphasis on theological reflection, critical reflection, dialogue, and action for change fostered a perspective transformation regarding the role of women religious in the Roman Catholic Church and led to an analysis of systems that bring oppression of other groups and of planet earth. This awareness eventually led Pinkerton to educate and lobby the U.S. Congress for inclusion of all in the common good. The study concludes with a metaphor of Pinkerton's life as a whole cloth or seamless garment being constructed from threads of the past, present, and envisioned future. A dialogical shuttle weaves the threads into vibrant, ever-changing, richly hued designs. The design increases in complexity and richness guided by radical, responsible freedom. Such freedom arises from a relationship with a divine wisdom deep within Pinkerton-a relationship through which developed an understanding of the interconnectedness of all things in the common good. Pinkerton's championship of the common good evolved historically through continuous, participative, experiential engagement with learning. / Ph. D.

This integrating essay is based on an Aristotelian-Thomism in exploring ethical decisionmaking and corporate governance mechanisms to address issues of corporate deviant behaviour, and ultimately, human flourishing. Eight (8) peer-reviewed journal articles analyse the causes of moral failings of corporate governance and ethical decision-making mechanisms, and propose to address these ethical deficits: (1) Virtue Theory as a Dynamic Theory of Business proposes a meta-theory of business that links the concepts of virtues, the common good, and the dynamic economy, (2) A Communitarian Model of Business: A Natural Law Perspective offers a communitarian view of business in defining the business organisation as one that incorporates its social purpose that acknowledges the primacy of people over profits, (3) Corporate Governance: An Ethical Perspective makes the distinction between ethical and legal compliance approaches to corporate governance in arguing the necessity and importance of the former approach as a basis for an effective legal compliance culture, (4) Striking a Balance between Rules and Principles-Based Approaches for Effective Governance: A Risks-Based Approach highlights the drawbacks of an excessively heavy reliance on rules-based approaches to corporate governance, (5) Ethical Decision-Making: A Case for the Triple Font Theory offers a comprehensive, systematic, practical approach to ethical decisionmaking that attempts to integrate virtue ethics into act-oriented normative ethical theories, (6) Reconciling Situational Social Psychology with Virtue Ethics attempts to reconcile the virtue ethicssituational social psychology debate, (7) Slippery when Wet: The Real Risk in Business identifies factors that contribute to corporate deviant behaviour from both an individual and organisational perspectives, and (8) An Aristotelian-Thomistic Approach to Management Practice argues that an Aristotelian-Thomistic humanism better promotes human dignity as it corrects the dysfunctional aspects and ethical deficits than its utilitarian naturalistic humanism counterpart. The failure to integrate an Aristotelian-Thomistic understanding of the virtues and natural law ethical principles of subsidiarity, solidarity, human dignity, and the common good into business practice threatens the stability and survival of the firm since they are required to correct the dysfunctional aspects and ethical deficits of certain aspects of market behaviour.

Thesis advisor: James Keenan / Environmental conservation is a pressing issue for modern humans. Health care systems and the consumption of medical goods should therefore be assessed in light of environmental sustainability. While the primary focus of environmental bioethics has been hospitals and health care facilities, ethicists must also address the offerings of the medical industry going forward. My dissertation proposes four principles to assess the environmental sustainability of current and future medical developments, techniques, and procedures. The four principles of green bioethics are: 1. General allocation of resources should precede special interest access: distributive justice 2. Current human needs over current human wants: environmental conservation 3. Simplicity before complexity: reducing dependence on medical intervention 4. The common good should drive health care instead of financial profit: ethical economics. The four principles of green bioethics will move environmental bioethics into the 21st century in a responsible and sustainable manner. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: David Hollenbach / This dissertation tries to show the contribution and challenge of a Jesuit university in nurturing an ethic of collaboration for the common good by responding to the problem of fragmentation in post-authoritarian Indonesia. The history of compartmentalization since Dutch colonization, the unleashing of greedy elites after the fall of the Suharto regime and the silent penetration of neoliberal ideology through commodification of higher education on one hand contribute to the decline of the massive civic movement in higher education, but on the other hand open a new form of social movement through various local initiatives (Chapter I). It is in responding to this tension that an ethic of collaboration proves to be helpful, both in initiating a strong alliance among various groups and in respecting the plurality of its manifestations. The tradition of post-Vatican II Catholic Social Teaching, especially in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis and Caritas in Veritate, provides a solid grounding for proposing such an ethic of collaboration with its three recurring important themes: solidarity, subsidiarity, and the common good (Chapter II). This normative vision of collaboration for the common good is not alien to the Indonesian world view. Three Indonesian pedagogues (Ki Hajar Dewantara, Nicolaus Driyarkara and Mochtar Buchori) not only support the possibility of a cross-cultural dialogue between an ethic of collaboration for the common good based on Post-Vatican II Catholic Social Teaching and the Indonesian virtue of gotong royong (working together), but also show how the didactic of such a vision should be started in various forms and levels of education (Chapter III). Therefore, enlightened by Ignacio Ellacuría, the historical mission of a Jesuit university in the context of a post-authoritarian society is to provide space to engage with the people’s struggle to attain its personal and communal wellbeing. This commitment to be a-different-kind-of-university is carried out through research, pedagogy and community service (Chapter IV). In so doing, Jesuit higher education in post-authoritarian Indonesia will embody the mystique of service and bears a theologal dimension in its various collaborative practices to historicize the reign of God which is in process toward its fullness (Chapter V). / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Thesis advisor: Arthur Madigan / Catholic moral philosophers and theologians for centuries used Thomas Aquinas's defense of the death penalty as a point of reference in defending the state's right to execute. Recent Church documents such as Evangelium Vitae, however, seem to take a different approach to the question than Aquinas did. In secular contemporary treatments of the death penalty, Aquinas's account is often caricatured or simply overlooked. One of the reasons for this is the lack of a thorough treatment of the death penalty in the thought of Aquinas. This dissertation seeks to address that deficiency. I present Aquinas's account of capital punishment as an example of determining civil punishments through the exercise of practical reason. Aquinas's thought sanctions neither an absolute acceptance nor an absolute rejection of the death penalty; for him, this is not a question that admits of absolutes. Like other punishments, the death penalty is a determination made by human reason. Its justification depends on specific historical and cultural circumstances and on the needs of the political community, as well as on the severity of the offense. Killing a guilty person is not intrinsically evil, in Aquinas's view, but it is nonetheless a last resort, when nothing else can be done for the good of the community. It may be that recent Church documents have avoided making use of the Thomistic teaching on the death penalty, even where this could have made their reasoning clearer, for fear that such arguments would be misunderstood, or in order to make a clearer case for forgoing the penalty. If this dissertation contributes to our understanding of what Thomas actually says about CP, it will be helpful in reconciling the thought of John Paul II with the tradition of Catholic thought on capital punishment, as well as in offering a reasonable way for thinking about punishments in general. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Aristotle's own solution is treated as a series of responses to his predecessors. His dialectical character and his subtle understanding of the complexity of human condition enable him to reach a dialectical and dynamic mean between these two extremes solutions. Aristotle objects Plato's attack of rhetoric, acknowledges its value, and secures its legitimate status in political life. But he also realizes the innate limitations of rhetoric. His theoretical solution to the tension lies in his theory of virtue and happiness. According to his ethics, virtue bridges these two series of goods, and in a virtuous person the tension does not exist. But this theory also has the same limitation of rhetoric in general, i.e., the lack of compulsory power. Therefore Aristotle, like Plato, tries to establish an ideal city, habituating the people to be truly virtuous through a series of legislative efforts. Good as it is, legislation cannot solve the tension permanently either, due to the universality of law. Therefore, when facing new situations or in critical moments, the system of law needs the supplement of decent and prudent politicians and through rhetoric. Thus, Aristotle establishes a virtuous circle between rhetoric and legislation, and such a dynamic system will give enough flexibility to deal with the complexity of human political life, and enables him to solve this tension successfully. / The first part presents two solutions given by Aristotle's predecessors. On the one hand, Gorgias, the representative rhetorician of that time began to reflect and champion the power of rhetoric. Such a theoretical reflection brought huge impact on Athenian political life. I treat Pericles and Alcibiades under Thucydides' depiction as spiritual heirs of Gorgias. They both try to solve the tension through rhetoric. On the other hand, Plato, fully realizing the limitation of rhetoric, attacks it in his Gorgias, and further in his Republic tries to solve this tension through legislation. / The tension between private and cornmon good is a problem for any human political society, and a central question for any political philosophy. This thesis tries to examine some attempts of solving this tension in ancient Greek context, and focuses on Aristotle's practical philosophy. / Liu, Wei. / Adviser: Qingjie Wang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-266). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

O presente estudo tem por objeto lançar uma perspectiva teleológica sobre os direitos sociais, concebidos como expressão do bem comum, valor informador que conduz a interpretação desses direitos à real consecução de suas finalidades sociais. Tendo por meta a análise da estrutura funcional dos direitos sociais em comparação com a eminentemente distinta dos direitos de liberdade, são apresentados os conceitos de dignidade da pessoa humana e de bem comum como fundamentos ontológico e teleológico do Estado Democrático de Direito nacional. Fixadas essas premissas, parte-se para a análise da questão envolvendo a eficácia dos direitos sociais como direitos da democracia e do direito conciliados e em equilíbrio, exigindo, para sua concretização na realidade social, o respeito dos atores constitucionais pelos papéis que cada um desempenha na realização desses direitos. Neste ponto, é conferido especial destaque ao nível da deliberação política, em virtude de sua quase asfixia, pelo direito, na realidade brasileira contemporânea dos direitos sociais. Como questão atinente à eficácia, é questionada a subsunção dos direitos sociais à fórmula tradicional dos direitos subjetivos, por incompatível com sua própria natureza e estrutura funcional, desembocando na análise crítica da chamada “judicialização” dos direitos sociais, enfocando o papel do Judiciário nesta concretização. Partindo-se das premissas assim estabelecidas, lança-se um olhar em direção ao direito social à saúde, em particular à tormentosa questão envolvendo o fornecimento de medicamentos pelos entes públicos e à intervenção judicial nesta seara, propondo-se a fixação de alguns parâmetros racionais hábeis a disciplinar a difícil convivência entre a satisfação do auto-interesse e os critérios de justiça social e de bem comum que informam a dispensação de fármacos pela Administração. / The present paper aims at looking into the social rights through a teleological perspective, conceived as expression of common good, informative value that takes to the interpreting of such rights to the actual fulfillment of their social purposes. Comparing the analysis of the functional structure of the social rights with the eminently distinct of the freedom rights, the concepts of human dignity of the individual and the common good as being the ontological and teleological fundaments of the national Democratic Constitutional State. Once established those premises, we embrace the analysis of the issue regarding the efficacy of the social rights as rights of the democracy and of the law, both intertwined and in balance, thus demanding, in order to come true in the social reality, the respect of the constitutional players and of the roles they have in the fulfillment of these such rights. At this point, we highlight the level of the political deliberation, due to its near asphyxia, by the law, in the current Brazilian social rights scenario. Concerning efficacy, we question the subsuming of the social rights against the traditional formula of the subjective rights, for being incompatible with its own nature and functional structure, resulting in the critical analysis of the so-called “judicialization” of the social rights, focusing on the role of the Judiciary in such accomplishment. Starting with the established premises, we look into the social right to health, specially regarding the treacherous issue that deals with the supplying of medication by public institutions and the judicial intervention in this field, proposing the establishment of some rational parameters, which would discipline the difficult interaction between the satisfaction of self-interest and the criteria of social justice and common good that inform the distribution of pharmacological drugs by the Administration.

Os conflitos e debates sobre usos, propriedade e gestão da água ganharam evidência nos processos de privatização de serviços de abastecimento nos anos 1990 e, atualmente, aparecem em outros espaços de luta social. Os distintos temas relacionados à água, no entanto, são usualmente trabalhados desarticuladamente, o que contribui para a disseminação de imprecisões teórico-conceituais que refletem as lutas sociais as concepções emergentes: o bem comum é um conceito vivo cujas imprecisões contribuem para sua cooptação pela hegemonia organizada por oligopólios que concentram as tecnologias de apropriação da água. Esse trabalho propõe uma análise dos diferentes temas da água a partir da articulação dos conceitos de metabolismo social, valor e luta de classes, em Marx; e das concepções emergentes nas lutas contra privações no acesso à água. Realiza, pela abstração, uma crítica ontológica da apropriação capitalista da água, que indica suas contradições e as esclarece desde sua gênese. A crítica ontológica é um movimento que mexe com todas as dimensões do conhecimento (epistemológicas, teóricas e metodológicas) e que reproduz o concreto, a sociedade capitalista em suas múltiplas determinações, pela abstração. Recria, dessa forma, essa realidade a partir de seu núcleo fundamental, o valor. As formas de apropriação da água na sociedade capitalista são organizadas pela produção de mais valor em uma dinâmica de luta de classes: a água é natureza incorporada na criação de mais valor. A análise do tema da água, nesse sentido, deve identificar os interesses de classe em disputa e os reflexos dessa disputa nos usos da água e nas formas de vida. Nessa perspectiva, se percebe que as formulações sobre a água como bem econômico, ao desconectar o valor-de-uso da água do valor atribuído pelo dinheiro, engendram uma relação fetichizada, na qual os mecanismos de gestão são separados das práticas de apropriação e integrados aos valores legitimados pelo capital. Ocultam, nesse processo, os aspectos desiguais e destrutivos das práticas de apropriação da água. O consenso ativo conquistado por essa hegemonia se manifesta na estratégia de ONGs, iniciativas políticas e análises acadêmicas enredadas em armadilhas teóricas e políticas, que aparece na confusão conceitual entre a água como bem público e bem comum. Inspirado em lutas sociais que alcançam a necessária crítica ontológica das relações capitalistas, defendo que uma concepção da água como bem comum está na afirmação éticoprática de que os frutos da natureza pertencem à humanidade. Pertencem, portanto, a todos os que deles necessitam para viver. O trabalho propõe, de forma conclusiva, uma compreensão universalizante da organização: a apropriação da natureza e da água é também a organização do metabolismo social que, na sociedade capitalista, se fundamenta na extração de mais valor pela classe capitalista em todos os momentos da vida. As concepções que emergem nas lutas sociais esboçam novas formas de organizar o metabolismo social, nas quais o critério para a apropriação da água e da natureza é o bem comum, um princípio ético e universal: a reprodução da vida humana. / Conflicts and debates surrounding water uses, properties and management became evident with the privatization processes in the nineties. Nowadays, these issues have appeared in further social struggles. Even though, the various issues related to water are usually approached in a non-articulated way, and that contributes to the dissemination of theoretical and conceptual imprecisions and contradictions, with consequences in social struggles that oppose capitalist appropriation of water and the concepts that emerge on it, like the common good. The common good is a living concept, but its theoretical and conceptual imprecisions contribute to its cooptation by a hegemonic bloc organized by transnational corporations which concentrate the technologies of water appropriation. This dissertation proposes an analysis of different issues related to water through the articulation of the concepts of social metabolism, value and class struggles in Marx; and conceptions that emerge in social struggles. It makes, through abstraction, an ontological critique of capitalist appropriation of water that indicates its contradictions and clarifies its genesis. The ontological critique moves every dimensions of knowledge (epistemological, theoretical and methodological) and reproduces the concrete, capitalist society in its multiple determinations. It recreates this reality through its fundamental nucleus, value. The different forms of water appropriation in a capitalist society are organized for the production of surplus value in a class struggle dynamic: water is nature incorporated in the creation of surplus value. The analysis of water issues, in this sense, must identify the class interests in dispute and also the reflection of this dispute in water uses and ways of life. In this perspective, it becomes evident that the formulations of water as an economic good, by disconnecting use-value from value attributed by money, engender a fetishized relation in which management mechanisms are separated from appropriation practices and integrated to values legitimated by capital. They conceal, in this process, unequal and destructive aspects of water appropriation. The active consensus conquered by this hegemony is manifested in the strategy of NGOs, political initiatives and academic analysis limited by concepts like governance and civil society as opposed to the State, and in the conceptual confusion between water as a public good and as a common good. Inspired in social struggles that reach the necessary ontological critique of capitalist relations, I argue that a conception of water as a common good is the ethical and practical affirmation that the gifts of nature belong to humanity: they belong to all who need it for living. This dissertation proposes, as a conclusion, a universalizing comprehension of organization: the appropriation of nature and water is also the organization of social metabolism which is founded, in capitalist society, in the extraction of surplus value by the capitalist class in every moment of life. Water as a common good is a conception that emerge in social struggles that aim at new ways of organizing social metabolism in which the criteria to appropriate water and nature is an ethical and universal principle: the reproduction of human life.

Can explicitly Christian principles be invoked and put into practice in political life without thereby rendering that politics fideistic, exclusionary and immoderate? Could such principles in fact strengthen the rule of reason in politics? Many secular and Christian thinkers agree that the answers to these questions must be no, only parting ways on their practical conclusions. But Aquinas' much-neglected De Regno suggests the matter is not so simple. In his careful pedagogical structuring of De Regno, Aquinas opens up the possibility of a kind of dialogue between convention, reason and revelation, one that permits him to propose and reformulate his political teachings according to diverse but convergent principles. I aim to develop an account of Aquinas' political teaching that reveals itself as indebted to revelation for its principles but grounded in and open to reason, and thus neither irrational, exclusionary nor immoderate. I will focus particularly on his treatment of the natural law. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-277). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.