Active Respect and Critical Solidarity

ABSTRACT

This article argues that, to distinguish between “critical” and “uncritical” solidarity, the normative concept of solidarity must be grounded on the principle of respect for persons. I start analyzing the principle of respect for persons from a modified Kantian perspective, arguing that it must be interpreted as a normative relation of power in which each person must recognize the autonomy of the other as a source of power. In this perspective, the principle of respect offers a foundation for an ethical assessment of situations in which ethical solidarity is required. By drawing on the distinction between passive and active respect, I argue that solidarity is grounded on the duty of active respect in the face of danger or oppression and that this foundation allows us to distinguish between critical (i.e. appropriate) and uncritical (i.e. inappropriate) solidarity.

KEYWORDS:

• Respect
• solidarity
• power
• beneficence
• care

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Frankena, “The Ethics of Respect for Persons.”

2 Downie and Telfer, Respect for Persons; Donagan, The Theory of Morality; Hill, Respect, Pluralism, and Justice.

3 Scarre, “Utilitarianism and Self-Respect”; Rawls, A Theory of Justice; Rawls, “Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory.”

4 Becker, The Moral Status of Persons; Cranor, “Toward a Theory of Respect”; Cranor, “On Respecting Human Beings”; Telfer, “Self-Respect.”

5 Broadie, “Kant’s Concept of Respect”; Hill, “Humanity as an End in Itself.”

6 Scarre, “Utilitarianism and Self-Respect.”

7 Rawls, A Theory of Justice.

8 Darwall, The Second-Person Standpoint.

9 Darwall, “Two Kinds of Respect.”

10 Dillon, Dignity, Character, and Self-Respect; Skorupski, “Blame, Respect and Recognition.”

11 Hudson, “The Nature of Respect.”

12 Darwall, The Second-Person Standpoint; Darwall, “Respect and the Second-Person Standpoint.”

13 Honneth, The Struggle for Recognition; Honneth, “Integrity and Disrespect.”

14 Waldron, Dignity, Rank and Rights.

15 Williams, Shame and Necessity; Mordacci, “A Short History and Theory”

16 Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, 28. Works by Kant are quoted according to the Akademie Ausgabe, Kants Gesammelte Schriften. Berlin-New York: De Gruyter, 1900ff, indicating the number of the volume and the corresponding pages.

17 Bacin, Kant e l’autonomia della volontà.

18 Arendt, The Human Condition.

19 Forst, The Right to Justification.

20 Cureton, “Solidarity in Kantian Moral Theory.”

21 Sangiovanni, “Solidarity as Joint Action”; Scholz, Political Solidarity.

22 Dillon, “Respect and Care,” 123.

23 Ibid., 127.

24 Ibid., 129.

25 Held, The Ethics of Care, 12.

26 Fraser, “Toward a Discourse Ethic of Solidarity.”

27 Bagnoli, “Respect and Loving Attention.”

28 Ibid., 514.