Union's inspiration: Universal health care and the essential partiality of solidarity

Solidarity is commonly invoked in the justification of public health care. This is understandable, as calls for and appeals to solidarity are effective in the mobilization of unison action and the willingness to incur sacrifices for others. However, the reference to solidarity as a moral notion requ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioethics
Main Author: Derpmann, Simon 1980- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2018]
In: Bioethics
RelBib Classification:NCC Social ethics
NCH Medical ethics
ZC Politics in general
Further subjects:B Justice
B Health Care
B Welfare State
B Solidarity
B Universality
B Partiality
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Solidarity is commonly invoked in the justification of public health care. This is understandable, as calls for and appeals to solidarity are effective in the mobilization of unison action and the willingness to incur sacrifices for others. However, the reference to solidarity as a moral notion requires caution, as there is no agreement on the meaning of solidarity. The article argues that the reference to solidarity as a normative notion is relevant to health-related moral claims, but that it does not provide a convincing foundation of claims to universal health care. References to universal solidarity obliterate an important distinction between those moral demands that are founded on principles like justice, recognition, or humanity, and those demands that stem from partisan relations in communities. While there is no ‘separate essence’ of solidarity that could be referred to in order to argue for the conceptual necessity of solidarity's partiality, some features may reasonably be stipulated as being essential to solidarity with a view to its systematic function within moral philosophy. The normative and motivational force of the ties invoked by solidarity is particularly relevant when basic moral demands are not met, and societies are in need of significant forms of communal relatedness.
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12444