https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6949-549X
Solidarity is often invoked in our times. The challenges posed by a complex juncture in human history seem to impose a rethinking of the concept and of the social practices that respond to the needs and the claims of people who need solidarity. But what does solidarity mean? What are the requisites of acts of real solidarity and are they distinct from acts of benevolence? In many areas of social and political action the idea of solidarity seems to offer a nuanced and practical framework, going beyond the stricter but more abstract requisites of justice or fairness. At the same time, it becomes more and more difficult to concretely determine what solidarity consists of, in a context where individuals feel less and less empowered and connected to each other. Ethical and political issues concerning solidarity are raised in many fields. The papers in this special issue focus in particular on issues of solidarity in such fields as health care, digital reality and European institutions: are the health care systems adequately expressing the solidarity that is often recalled as a fundamental value? What does it mean to show solidarity in the digital world? Are the European institutions framed in a way that allows solidarity to be practised among citizens when it is needed?
These questions were at the heart of the third international workshop held at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, on 13th–14th September 2021. The workshop is a bi-annual event organized by the International Research Centre for European Culture and Politics, which by now has changed its name to that of European Centre for Social Ethics. The workshop generated a rich discussion among the scholars who participated in the event, so that it was quite natural to think about a special issue for a scientific journal. The organizers are grateful to Critical Horizons for having accepted to publish these essays, after a careful double-blind review: we do hope that they can serve as contribution to the ongoing debate on solidarity in the perspective of ethics and politics.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).