Global ethics and global common goods /

Riordan (Heythrop College) attempts to apply an Aristotelian framework to questions of global ethics, with the aim of making the common good a guiding consideration in international relations. The common good, he argues, entails partners' pursuing the good of shared meaning, a meaning that in turn guides cooperative efforts and the pursuit of concrete goods. Much effort is given to showing how emphasizing shared meaning allows for the incorporation of liberal and pluralist approaches to civic life, such as those articulated by William Galston. Very little space is devoted to dealing with Aristotle's own weighty reflections on challenges involved in attempting to develop a shared common good. And almost nothing is said about Aristotle's account of human flourishing or what regime might best achieve it, although Riordan does on one page dismiss this latter consideration by saying that it has been overcome by the Second Vatican Council as interpreted by John Rawls. It is therefore appropriate, and almost necessary, that he uses cooperation with a university, rather than a political community, as the illustrative model of his approach to global common goods. Summing Up: Optional. Research collections. --Patrick N. Cain, Lakehead University