Rescuing Solidarity from Its Carers. A Response to Professor ter Meulen

• Authors: De Grandis Giovanni
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper points out three serious problems in Ruud ter Meulen’s view of solidarity and of its role in healthcare ethics. First, it is not clear whether and to what extent ter Meulen expects normative concepts to be rooted in existing social practices: his criticism of liberal theories of justice seems to imply a different view on this issue than his implicit assumption that normative concepts are independent from social and historical trends. Second, it is not clear at which level his notion of solidarity is meant to be applied: does it provide principles for individuals or for institutions? Nor is it clear at what level of generality it should work: is it meant for healthcare institutions or for states, for citizens or for healthcare practitioners? Third, it is not at all clear how the communitarian and the universalist aspirations in his conception of solidarity can be reconciled. In light of such difficulties it is argued that within philosophical discourse solidarity can be a useful notion only if it can be clearly distinguished from existing and commonly used ethical concepts. Three examples of such narrow and specific uses of solidarity are presented. Finally, a sceptical view of confining the work of applied philosophers to articulating normative concepts is put forward and an alternative view of blending empirical and philosophical analysis is proposed. This vision of field philosophy requires serious attention and careful understanding of the circumstances and constraints within which normative recommendations operate. It is suggested that such a modest and empirically grounded understanding of normative work is a better way of honouring the belief that philosophy is rooted in social institutions and in complex webs of relations.

Keywords

EN

solidarity; justice; community; individuality; healthcare ethics; ethics in practice; field philosophy; normative and descriptive ethics

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii - Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Diametros
• Year: 2015
• Issue: Diametros 43
• Pages: 28-43

Dates

published

2015-03

Contributors

author

De Grandis Giovanni

• Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies Norwegian University of Science and Technology

References

• N. Daniels, Just Health. Meeting Health Needs Fairly, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 2008.
• R. Frodeman, A. Briggle, B. Holbrook, “Philosophy in the Age of Neoliberalism,” Social Epistemology 26 (3–4) 2012, p. 311–330.
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• D. Martin, P. Singer, “A Strategy to Improve Priority Setting in Health Care Institutions,” Health Care Analysis 11 (1) 2003, p. 59–68.
• R. ter Meulen, “Solidarity and Justice in Health Care,” Diametros (43) 2015, p. 1–20.
• J. Rawls, Political Liberalism, Columbia University Press, New York 1993.
• J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice. Revised Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999.
• J. Rawls, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 2001.
• M.J. Sandel, “The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self,” Political Theory 12 (1) 1984, p. 81–96.
• S. Toulmin, Return to Reason, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA 2001.

Notes

EN

Special Topic - Solidarity and Justice in Health Care

Identifiers

DOI

dx.doi.org/10.13153/diam.43.2015.712