Health promotion and the common good: Theoretical considerations

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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities for health promotion to function as a discourse on the common good. Building on contemporary notions of ‘the common good’, and on an approach to health promotion based on the social determinants of health, this paper discusses some of the empirical evidence for a link between health promotion and the common good. It is suggested that an underlying moral discourse for health promotion and the common good can be found in the language of need. The limitations of two contemporary articulations of need, in the form of a therapeutic language of need and ‘rights talk’, are examined. It is argued that a language of need more appropriate to the notion of the common good takes account of the inherently political nature of need and, further, situates the definition and adjudication of needs in the common life of the community. Such a language of need incorporates notions of reciprocity, going beyond the dependence/independence dichotomy. Thus, it is a ‘moral economy of interdependence’ which provides a moral language for health promotion as a discourse on the common good. The paper concludes with a brief exploration of what a ‘moral economy of interdependence’ might look like, and why it matters that we speak a language of the common good.