Liberal common-good theory rationalizes reckless private interest

Evidence

In this connection, the liberals’ political philosophy, according to which the mere sum of individual interests adds up to the miracle of the common good, appeared to be only a rationalization of the recklessness with which private interests were pressed regardless of the common good. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 797

Categorization

• XREF: This critique of the invisible-hand style optimism anticipates the field’s skepticism that market or institutional mechanisms self-correct toward the good — relevant to how the Islamophobia literature treats the liberal state’s neutrality claims. — connects to: Majority rule depends on citizens committing to the common good over self-interest — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 24; Public-choice logic applied to economists themselves reveals built-in incentives toward rent-seeking theories. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 597; Economists’ talk of public good actually means protection of their own professional interests. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 608
• DEEPTHINKING: Arendt compresses a whole critique of liberal political economy into one sentence: the common good is not a real outcome but a legitimating fiction for private recklessness. This is dense enough to sit with across multiple readings.