3. Toward a Common Horizon

In this chapter we identify a broadly shared positive conception of social justice that implicitly informs the diverse perspectives surveyed in Chapter 2: an expansive conception of contributive justice. We conceptualize this ultimate end as a set of social conditions that enable every individual and group to develop their latent potentialities and thereby contribute to the flourishing of the entire social body, from which their own flourishing ultimately derives. Such conditions may manifest differently in different cultural contexts. Nonetheless, they can be understood as latent social possibilities that can be collectively discerned and acted upon in efforts to advance toward them. This common horizon offers alignment and coherence across diverse movements for social justice, and it beckons such movements to collectively learn their way forward.