Andrea Sangiovanni, Solidarity and Its Grounds*

2 novembre, ore 16.00, Webex

Recently, there has been growing attention among philosophers to the nature of solidarity. Less well understood are the grounds of solidarity: what reasons there are for acting in solidarity with others. In this paper, I consider when and why identification with others on the basis of a shared role (e.g., workers), shared way of life (e.g., members of the Sioux nation), shared condition (e.g., oppression), shared set of experiences (e.g., being a cancer survivor), or shared cause (e.g., environmentalism) constitutes a reason to be in solidarity with others. The first part of the paper discusses what identification is and why it matters, and explains the sense in which it is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being in solidarity with others. The second part defends the claim that, when individuals identify with one another on one or more of these bases, there is normative pressure to act in solidarity when adversity threatens. The normative pressure to join in solidarity, however, comes from considerations of fairness rather than from the mere fact that participants share an identity.