This thesis is the first complex ethical and philosophical research of the common good and the possibilities of its realization in institutional social practices in the Ukrainian ethics. The dissertation research systematizes normative ethics concepts, and as a result, it clarifies the theoretical images of morality, represented by “empirical” and “metaphysical” ethics. It is proved that an essential component of morality is the idea of the good, by which the goals of human activity and human life in general are determined, the standards of a good life for a person and a community are set, the rightness of actions, joint activities, social practices are evaluated. The basic formal characteristics of the good are identified: different sources of origin, normativity, optativity, “intrinsic” or “external” value, and multiplicity.
It is specified that theoretical images of morality, which have been represented by the concepts of “individual morality” and “social morality”. The specific features of “social morality” are found: the social and disciplinary destiny, generated by culture of Modernity; the duality of the moral agent - an individual as a member of the community and the collective agent (organization, institution); partial institutionalization, which is manifested in the determining of the ethical evaluations, the statutory determination of specific institutional roles and responsibilities to act for the sake of the common good; horizontal moral regulation using heteronomous mechanisms; particularization of moral norms, principles and responsibilities; the common good and moral rights as key values.
It is analyzed that a perfectionist-oriented idea of the common good as a value standard, by which the individual conceives the own good and the good of others, gets excellence and self-realizes in different relations and institutional roles in various spheres of joint activity via this idea. In the analysis of the main ideas of ethical sentimentalism it is found, that a moral feeling (a benevolence as the highest manifestation of moral feeling) is the mechanism of realization of the common good and the good of others in the individual action. The moral rights and obligations are the mechanisms of realization of the common good in the social actions. In the analysis of the ideas of modern virtue ethics it is revealed, that the common good is the “intrinsic” value of social practices and the principle of organizing political and civic life. It is proved that the common good is a regulatory idea, that shapes the ideal of a good life for citizens on the basis of generalized moral experience of the community; it is the basis for the unity of citizens; it sets the vector for the development of civic virtues, which improve individual and social life, overcome selfishness and make altruistic behavior possible.
