Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

procal subordination": the individua·l can be sacrificed
for the common good; but the common good, in turn, must
"flow back" to the person.(17)
More concretely, the common good obtains when "the
con ere t e per son g a ins the grea t est po s sib I e me as ur e ,
compat ible with the good of the whole, of real independence
from the servitudes of nature."(18)· This entails
bot h rig h t san d cor rei a t i ve dutie s • Ma n 's righ t sinelude
"the right to exist, to keep one's body whole, to
found a fami ly ., the right of association, the
right to the private ownership of materia.l goods." It
a Iso inc 1 udes the rig h t t 0 wo r k and t 0 f r eely ch0 0 s e
one's 0 c cup a t ion, the righ t to a "j us i wa ge " and the
right to relief, unemployment insurance, sick benefits,
social security and the like.(19) Since these rights
are "grounded on the very nature of man," says
Ma r ita in, they "arei na lienab Ie. " ( 20 )
As for man' s d uti e s, Ma r ita'i n comme n t s t hat "unlike
a farmer's cooperative or a scientific association,
which require the commitment of only part of the
interests of the members, civil society requires the
citizens to commit their lives, properties and
h 0 nor • " ( 2 1 ) But, he rna i n t a ins, therei s no con t r ad i ction
between the person's inalienable rights and the
individual's duty to, if necessary, sacrifice even his
life for the good of society:
the sheer fact of existing is neither
the supreme good nor anyone of the absolute
goods to wh i ch the person as such is ordained.
It is, however, the first prerequisite
condition of the person's ordination to these
goods. A human life is less precious than
the moral good and the duty of assuring the
salvation of the community••• (22)
Wh i 1 e not eve r y t h i n g t hat i sinc 1udedin Ma r ita in' s
version of the common good requires the state, certainly
some, perhaps most, do.
We h a vetw 0 dis tin c t ve r s ion S 0 f the c omm 0 n good
jus t i fie a t ion for the s tat e . The per sona listeomm 0 n
good of Maritain, building on the philosophical substructure
laid by St. Thomas Aquinas, differs from the
total ist commond good of Plato and Rousseau in its emphas
i s on the completeness, wholeness and moral transcendence
of the human person and its attempt to protect
the inalienable rights of the person against the de-
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