The Idea of Solidarity: Philosophical and Social Contexts
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Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series IVA, Eastern and Central Europe, Volume 42 General Editor George F. McLean The Idea of Solidarity: Philosophical and Social Contexts Polish Philosophical Studies, X Edited by Dariusz Dobrzański The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2011 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Box 261 Cardinal Station Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication The idea of solidarity : philosophical and social contexts / edited by Dariusz Dobrzański. p. cm. -- (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series IV, Eastern and Central Europe ; v. 42) (Polish philosophical studies ; 10) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Solidarity. I. Dobrzański, Dariusz. HM717.I335 2011 2011021343 302'.14--dc23 CIP ISBN 978-1-56518-269-1 (pbk.) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 George F. McLean Part I Solidarity: It`s Nature, Principles and Praxis Chapter I. The Principle of Solidarity 7 Dariusz Dobrzański Chapter II. From Freedom to Solidarity 23 Tadeusz Buksiński Chapter III. The Religious Foundations of Solidarity 41 John C. Carney Chapter IV. The Concept of Solidarity in August Cieszkowski’s Philosophical System 57 Andrzej Wawrzynowicz Chapter V. On the Foundations of Human Solidarity: Gandhi’s Ideas of Non-Violence and Christian All-Embracing Love 65 Wlodzimierz Wilowski Part II Solidarity: It`s Ethical and Moral Impact Chapter VI. Solidarity and the Shape of Moral Space 83 Piotr Boltuc Chapter VII. The Golden Rule as an Ethos of Global Solidarity: A Philosophical Inquiry 97 Josef Bordat Chapter VIII. Globalization and Recognition 105 Jarema Jakubowski Part III Solidarity: Socio-Political Problems Chapter IX. Solidarity: Between Nature and Civilization 119 Ryszard Liberkowski Chapter X. Cultural and Conceptual Meaning of Spiritual Identity: Precondition for Human Solidarity 135 Michal Tadeusz Jan Katafiasz Chapter XI. The Problem of Moral Decline in Post-Soviet Ukraine 145 Yaroslav Pasko Chapter XII. Freedom, Solidarity, Independence: Political Thought of the “Fighting Solidarity” Organization 151 Krzysztof Brzechczyn Chapter XIII. The Rhetoric of Solidarity and Identity in Belarusian Literary Sources: 16th-19th Century 173 Olga Shutova Index 197 INTRODUCTION In the 1980s, ‘Solidarity’ suddenly emerged in Poland. It was not only the name of a trade union program but carried the weight of the rich cultural and religious heritage of the people. In the circumstances of Eastern Europe at the time it constituted a mass movement capable of sweeping aside not only the oppressive weight of post-World War II Soviet domination but even the Soviet Union itself. Among the movements of liberation from colonialism and racism, solidarity stands out as the most successful, the most swift and the most electrifying. Because its roots were so deeply cultural and religious, despite its success it raises a series of questions regarding its compatibility with the individualism and pragmatism of the modern West of which we might mention the following three. First, no matter how solidarity is understood: whether as a virtue of character represented by the attitude of the Good Samaritan, or as a feeling which is an attribute of human nature inevitably particular. This means that the precise form and content of the idea is defined on an individual basis by a particular community, which solidarity itself co-creates. Consequently, any claim to the universality of the concept may not be effective. This argument is sometimes supported additionally by another claim stating that the particularism assumed by solidarity inescapably leads to the exclusion of other communities, which are perceived as antagonistic. Secondly, solidarity is criticized predominantly from the viewpoint of contemporary approaches related to liberal culture – usually incorporating such concepts as universality and a belief in the fundamental moral value of a free and responsible individual. In contrast, the collectivism postulated by solidarity attaches primary importance to community interests and values, and is regarded merely as an anachronistic legacy of pre-modern forms of collective identity, the essence of which does not lie on the individual. The individualism and nominalism of contemporary times is thus placed in opposition to “anachronistic” solidarity-based duties and obligations. Thirdly, proposed structures of contemporary social order, which recognize solidarity as the overriding social principle, are often disapproved of. Some claims that the proposal for solidarity to regulate the organization of legal and procedural structures (e.g., of the state) potentially jeopardizes modern community institutions, such as the free market. They emphasize that solidarity, like charity, assumes something voluntary, which is why it cannot be recognized as a common law standard. The present study was co-sponsored by the Institute of Philosophy of Adam Mickiewcz University of Poznań and the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) in Washington. Its main aim is to explore the nature and to discuss thoroughly the criticisms and objections voiced regarding the idea of solidarity. The authors also attempt to reflect on 2 George F. McLean solidarity in the globalizing world of today. They analyze solidarity from three perspectives corresponding to (a) its essential nature, foundational principles, and praxis; (b) its ethical and moral implications; and (c) some related concrete socio-political issues its encounters. These three structure the work into three parts. Part I, “Solidarity: Its Nature, Principles and Praxis”, consists of five chapters. Chapter I, “The Principle of Solidarity” by Dariusz Dobrzański, opens the discussion with an archeology of the idea of solidarity, an analysis of the notion itself and its socio-political outreach. Chapter II, “From Freedom to Solidarity” by Tadeusz Buksiński, sets this theme in the context of the modern socio-political dynamics. In the West this encounters liberalism and its focus upon freedom. This engenders tension with individualism and equality. In the East solidarity emerges in the context of both the praxis and the ideology of Marxism and, famously, as its opponent in the 1980s. Chapter III, “Religious Foundations of Solidarity” by John C. Carney, takes up this latter theme to show how it was implemented by John Paul II with the tools of phenomenology in the form of a cognitive praxis. This applied solidarity as a mass liberation movement which in the 1980s emerged swiftly and decisively on the world stage to end the Cold War and free the countries of Eastern Europe. Chapter IV, “The Concept of Solidarity in August Cieszkowski’s Philosophical System” by Andrzej Wawrzynowicz, explores the religious roots of solidarity developed as a Christology. This begins from the terms “Our” in the Lord’s Prayer and expands to provide the universal and unitive vision of solidarity. Chapter V, “On the Foundations of Human Solidarity: Gandhi’s Ideas of Non-Violence and on Christian All-embrancing Love” by Wlodziemierz Wilowski, extends the sense of solidarity to non-violence and explores the metaphysical justification of this in Gandhi’s Hindu thought and in Christian thought; with special concluding reference to the thought of John Paul II. Part II, focuses on the ethical and moral import of solidarity. Here Chapter VI, “Solidarity and the Shape of Moral Space” by Piotr Boltuc, approaches the solidarity in terms of its establishment of moral space as non-homogeneous in its responsibilities but built, rather, in terms of patterns of solidarity. Chapter VII, “The Golden Rule as an Ethos of Global Solidarity: A Philosophical Inquiry” by Josef Bordat, extends the range of solidarity in terms of the Golden Rule with its obligations of justice and benevolence. Solidarity directs us to take account not only of my needs and preferences but those of the other. The paper elaborates the implications for tolerance. Chapter VIII, “Globalization and Recognition” by Jarema Jakubowski, approaches globalization from the Western perspective as a Introduction 3 process of its exteriorization. This is seen as entailing a process of recognition, which he studies and then applies to the global scale, with implication for removing development barriers and assuring world trade. Part III turns to the socio-political order. Here Chapter IX, “Solidarity between Nature and Civilization” by Ryszard Liberkowski, works out an elaborate framework for locating solidarity in relation to both the evolution of nature and that of civilization as a whole. Here he focuses especially on human consciousness and ego formation as generating cultures and eventually civilizations. Chapter X, “Cultural and Conceptual Meaning of Spiritual Identity: A Precondition of Human Solidarity” by Michal Jan Tadeusz Katafiasz, sees the need to separate the spiritual groundings of human identities from the particularities of specific cultures in order to make its proper contribution to unity and solidarity. This raises important issues of the feasibility and desirability of a spiritual force unrelated to the cultures by which people have shaped their identities. Chapter XI, “The Problem of Moral Decline in Post-Soviet Ukraine” by Yaroslav Pasko, illustrates the problem by relating the moral decline of his post-Soviet Ukraine to such a back of cultural specificity by which the spiritual and moral forces of solidarity can be applied. Chapter XII,