Editing Common good (section)

=== In non-Western moral and political thought ===
The idea of a common good plays a role in [[Confucianism|Confucian political philosophy]], which on most interpretations stresses the importance of the subordination of individual interests to group or collective interests,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Confucian Political Philosophy – Oxford Handbooks|journal=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy|volume=1|url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238804.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199238804-e-48|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238804.001.0001|year=2011|isbn=9780199238804|last1=Wong|first1=David|editor1-first=George|editor1-last=Klosko}}</ref> or at the very least, the mutual dependence between the flourishing of the individual and the flourishing of the group.<ref>Bloom, Irene (2009) (trans.). ''Mencius''. New York: Columbia University Press.</ref> In [[Islamic political thought]], many modern thinkers have identified conceptions of the common good while endeavoring to ascertain the fundamental or universal principles underlying divine [[Sharia|shari‘a law]].<ref name=":1">Bulliet, R. & Bowering, G. & Cook, D. & Crone, P. & Kadi, W. & Euben, R. L..''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.</ref> These fundamentals or universal principles have been largely identified with the "objectives" of the shari‘a ({{Lang|ar-latn|maqāṣid al-sharī‘a}}), including concepts of the common good or public interest ({{Lang|ar-latn|maṣlaḥa ‘āmma}}, in modern terminology).<ref name=":1" /> A notion of the common good arises in contemporary Islamic discussions of the distinction between the fixed and the flexible ({{Lang|ar-latn|al-thābit wa-l-mutaghayyir}}), especially as it relates to modern Islamic conceptions of tolerance, equality, and citizenship: according to some, for instance, universal principles carry greater weight than specific injunctions of the [[Quran|Qur'an]], and in case of conflict, can even supersede or suspend explicit textual injunctions ({{Lang|ar-latn|naṣṣ}}) if this serves the common good.<ref name=":1" />