The "World Social Science Advanced Lecture" (Lecture 76), organized by the Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences (Fudan IAS) and Contemporary China Research Center at Fudan University, was held on Nov 30, 2023, at Fudan University.

Prof. Adrian Vermeule, Senior Visiting Scholar of Fudan IAS, Ralph S. Tyler, Jr. Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, gave a lecture on The Common Good in Politics and Law. The event was chaired by Prof. Sujian Guo, Dean and Distinguished Professor of Fudan IAS.

Prof. Guo first warmly welcomed Prof. Vermeule and introduced his research area and achievements. Prof. Vermeule then introduced himself in Chinese, and said that his thinking about politics, constitutionalism, and law was heavily influenced by Confucianism and Legalism in the Chinese philosophical tradition. Then he started the sharing.

Prof. Vermeule began by asking, what does the common good consist of? How does it relate to individuals and families? What does the common good mean at the legal level? Does the common good require that every society has the same institutions or even policies? To answer these questions, Prof. Vermeule introduced three figures: the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, the medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas, and the Roman jurist Ulpian, with whom he dialogued on the nature and meaning of the common good. Through the dialogues with the three wise men, he discussed the nature and connotation of common goods. Prof. Vermeule then further discussed the role of authority, rights, the principle of subsidiarity, and the question of who decides on common goods. According to him, politics and laws are the most essential here.

After Prof. Vermeule's sharing, Prof. Xi Lin summarized the lecture in Chinese, and then Prof. Guo chaired the Q&A session. Researchers and students enthusiastically asked questions about what is the common good or whether the common good can be measured, how to look at polarized social divisions, and the individual interest versus the public interest, etc. Prof. Vermeule gave many inspirational responses to the questions. In the end, Prof. Guo made a brief comment on Prof. Vermeule's lecture and thanked him for his thoughtful sharing. Prof. Guo believed that Prof. Vermeule's research on common goods is a very important inspiration for how we understand good governance, especially from the political and legal level, which helps us reflect deeply on the issues related to common goods.