Thus, it is uniquely the case for common goods that the good of the whole is greater than that of any individual, insofar as the good of each individual member qua member is only realised in and through the good of the whole. The same goes for families and workplaces: I only flourish as a husband or employee through the flourishing of my family or company. The good of each singer as a choral singer is only realised in and through their cooperation for the good of the whole. Therefore, one distinction between individual and public goods is that between purchasing and taxation - and unlike individual goods, the amount we contribute for public goods is dependent on our resources rather than the value of the goods.Ĭommon goods, finally, are those that I both achieve and enjoy through cooperation with others - goods that only accrue to me as a member of a certain group or participant in a certain activity. Because we as individuals are not capable of providing roads, clean water, sewer systems, or law and order and national security, local and national governments intervene as a mechanism by which we cooperate (primarily through taxation) to achieve goods from which we each benefit individually. Public goods are those that I enjoy as an individual but only achieve through cooperation with others. These goods may require incidental cooperation mediated by the market, but this cooperation will be primarily transactional. To enjoy a glass of whiskey or a plate of fish and chips is to appreciate this kind of good. Individual goods are those that I can both achieve and enjoy as an individual. In his book Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity, Alasdair MacIntyre contends that as everyday agents, we recognise a distinction between different kinds of goods to which we order our lives. For the sake of clarity, I am assuming Roland Imhoff and Martin Bruder’s definition of conspiracy theories as “explanations of complex world events with reference to secret plots hatched by powerful groups.” What kinds of goods? ![]() Alasdair MacIntyre’s taxonomy of individual, public, and common goods is a helpful tool for addressing these issues and for reflecting on the kinds of cooperative enquiry necessary for our communities to flourish. My argument is twofold: conspiracy theories undermine our ability to pursue the common good and they depend on and propagate intellectual vices. Instead, I want to outline a framework to help us discuss the problems of this trend without recourse to the content of the conspiracy theories themselves. The reasons for this fascination with conspiracies are complex and evolving, and I will not attempt to explain them here. The study also showed that people who hold such beliefs are considerably less likely to comply with social distancing guidelines or take up future vaccines. A recent study in Psychological Medicine from researchers at Oxford shows that 40 per cent of adults in England believe in some kind of COVID-19-related conspiracy. The current pandemic has exacerbated these trends, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty with apocalyptic overtones that is being exploited to great effect on social media. “Pizzagate,” as it became known, is one of many high-profile conspiracy theories to have captured the imagination of surprising numbers of people in recent years - including many Christians - sometimes provoking them to dangerous, misguided action. He was later sentenced to four years in prison. Upon discovering nothing more than a small closet of computer equipment, he put down his weapons and surrendered to the police. Welch had been expecting to discover a dungeon full of children - part of a child sex-ring he believed was being run by then-presidential candidate Hilary Clinton. As patrons and employees fled, he fired multiple shots into a locked door at the back of the restaurant, forcing his way through it. ![]() On 4 December 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch, a devoted Christian and father of two, burst into a family pizza parlour in Washington, D.C., carrying an assault rifle.
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