Plato imagined an ideal state in which private goods and nuclear families would be relinquished for the sake of the greater good of a harmonious society. Aristotle defined public good in terms of a communally shared happiness, whose key constituents were wisdom, virtue and pleasure.
The 17th century saw the rise of social contract theory. This was a school of thought that we ought to forfeit our absolute freedom to live as we wish for the greater good of the security of shared life in a community. Subsequently, 18th- and 19th-century thinkers such as John Stuart Mill argued that the right course of action is that which creates the greatest “utility” for society — with utility defined as experiencing pleasure and avoiding pain. In the 20th century, the greater good received renewed impetus with the work of John Rawls.
Idealism vs Greater good is an ethical battle which has been a matter of debate for centuries, and shall probably continue being so.
The most serious limitation of most historical ideas about the greater good is that they are silent on the greater good as it relates to non-humans and other natural systems. Common goods (e.g. clean water, air) are clearly a vital, if no longer inevitable, part of the greater good.
The Greater Good is also known as the politician’s dodge, the murderer’s solace, the culprits excuse and several other metaphors, because it is like a scapegoat they run to every time they make a decision that affects many in a harmful way, claiming that it will benefit many others.
A grasp of the meaning of the greater good – the idea that we possess, as we have always possessed, shared interests and a common future – is vital. This is because it improves the odds that we will choose the “public interest” approach to our challenges rather than persevere with “politics as usual” and “business as usual”.