summum bonum

American  

[soom-oom boh-noom, suhm-uhm boh-nuhm] / ˈsʊm ʊm ˈboʊ nʊm, ˈsʌm əm ˈboʊ nəm /

noun

Latin.

1. the highest or chief good.

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summum bonum British  

/ ˈsʊmʊm ˈbɒnʊm /

noun

1. the principle of goodness in which all moral values are included or from which they are derived; highest or supreme good

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

summum bonum

After all, if what is good for a nation is more important than what is good for a family, surely the greatest good, the secular summum bonum, is the good of the human race.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2011

The very passage from Jeremiah which he quotes as summing up his idea of the summum bonum, speaks against him, and he only succeeds in manipulating it in his favor by misinterpreting the word "wise."

From A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Husik, Isaac

The first question for ethics is the nature of the summum bonum.

From A Critical History of Greek Philosophy by Stace, W. T. (Walter Terence)

Similarly the conception of the self as a moral unity arises naturally out of the impossibility of finding the summum bonum in a succession of transient states of consciousness such as hedonism for example postulates.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various

But material gains may not be the summum bonum of the express business.

From The Express Companies of the United States A Study of a Public Utility by Benedict, Bert