Social Harm in an Era of Liberal Cynicism and its Consequences

This chapter begins by suggesting that the starting point for all social harm research should be the following epistemological question: How can we know, with confidence and good reason, that some person, group, practice, institution, or environment is being harmed? It is subsequently argued that if we are to ascertain when someone or something is being harmed, then we must possess a Neo-Aristotelian understanding of the telos of human beings, social practices, and institutions so that we know when they are flourishing and when they are not. Quite simply, the concept of social harm must be conversely based upon a shared notion of the Good. However, this shared notion of the goods and ends of life and what it means to flourish are systematically prohibited by the basic tenets of liberalism which dominate contemporary society and culture; the outcome of which is a pervasive assumption of harmlessness.