NORMATIVITY AND THE UNITY PRINCIPLE OF POLITICAL COMMUNITIES

The paper argues that the specific kind of bond among persons that unifies and organizes political communities needs a eta-normative explanation based on the concept of political authority. I start by considering the nature and unifying principles of communities, i.e. not only political communities, but also families, companies, societies etc. I argue that any of these kinds of community can only be explained by means of the concept of the good in action, since they emerge as byproducts of human actions and its focus on the good. Subsequently, I focus on the specific features of political communities and on the role of the common good as unifying principle.