Doing Justice to Solidarity

On the Moral Role of Mutual Support

Bibliographic Data

ID23205379
AuthorsAlessandro Volpe (0000-0002-1953-1501, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Issue24
Pages258-268
Publication date2023-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhenomenology and Mind (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2280-7853 • E-ISSN: 2239-4028
PublisherLexis srl (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17454/pam-2420
OpenAlexW4388881675
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

The value of solidarity, which implies mutual concern and support, is often conveyed in our everyday moral and political language. But what is its conceptual relationship with justice? Influential positions in this debate may argue for the opposition between the two concepts: justice is impartial and universal, while solidarity is partial and limited. The present paper aims to shortly explore a range of theories that may exemplify possible answers to this position, from communitarian and realist views, which ultimately confirm the opposition, to political solidarities, which claim an instrumental need for solidarity as a reaction to injustices. Special attention will be paid to Habermas’s compatibilist account of solidarity as the “reverse side” of justice. The paper contends that a compelling answer should preserve the difference between the two spheres and the essential features of solidarity by also sketching a concept of solidarity as a social duty arising from our moral interdependence.

Duty · Economic Justice · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Law and economics · Opposition (politics) · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Solidarity · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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