Naslov
Civic friendship as compromise

Autori
Gavran Miloš, Ana ; Zelič, Nebojša

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Third Braga Colloquium in the History of Moral and Political Philosophy

Mjesto i datum
Braga, Portugal, 01.02.2018. - 02.02.2018

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
compromise, civic friendship, well-being, social cohesion

Sažetak
Our aim in this paper is to explore the relationship between an individual person and political community by focusing on well- being understood as human flourishing. More precisely, the question we are interested in is how to fit the interests of others in the pursuit of one's own good, that is, how to reconcile selfish aspiration for one's own good with the others- concern. By person's own good here we understand also a pursuit of her idea of ideal society. It is inevitable that any kind of social cooperation in plural society will end up in some kind of compromise understood as giving up a part of ideal for the sake of others. The theoretical problem which arises is whether these kinds of compromises can realize certain kind of valuable political relation that is worth pursuing? We believe that the solution for this problem can be found in Aristotle's notion of political or civic friendship. Aristotelian notion of civic friendship as we understand it is characterized by the following features: basic concern for others (basic volitional attitude that does not depend on any kind of list of admirable qualities or shared beliefs) ; relational equality (equality of status, absence of hierarchy and marginalization) ; social trust (generalized trust ; based on imperfect information about the behaviour of others where we lack mechanism of assurance) ; practical doing for others (contributing to well-being of others through various social networks and associations). These characteristics should be realized through common political institutions. A society built upon the notion of civic friendship will provide stability and social cohesion which are the values that go far beyond the value of individual well-being motivated only by instrumental rationality. This explains why concern for others becomes an integrative part of our own well-being. We want to claim that such a concept of civic friendship is a normative framework which is not some particular political ideal but itself is a compromise understood as giving up on my own interest for the sake of others. Since it refers to a relation among citizens in a plural community it should not be based on any particular identity such as religion or ethnicity, but on the relations among citizens through shared institutions of political community. Civic friends thus differ in their comprehensive doctrines of good and in their visions of ideal society but are motivated with the same goal: to live in a society that provides for each member to achieve life worth of human dignity and as such serves as a precondition to avoid making rotten compromises.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filozofija

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