Republic and Public Good: Philosophical Heritage and Contemporary Challenges

Abstract

Modern states have to join the individual freedom of the citizens with the collective unity of the
common body. Republic is the political model in which individual freedom consists in participating
to a common good and a common destiny. Democracy is the political model in which the preservation
of every individual freedom constitutes the main and common goal of politics. These two political
models can get enemies, as one can see in events that happen in Europe today. But, as a matter of
fact, the modern civilisation has to combine two philosophical heritages for the concept of Republic:
the one of Kant and the one of Hegel…