"When a person or group of people lack a particular good, others will sometimes act in solidarity with them by depriving themselves of that good too. For example, while leading his army through the desert, Alexander the Great is fabled to have refused a helmet filled with water, preferring to undergo the soldiers' suffering with them than to accept something which they couldn't have."
"In the 1940's, an Indian woman-call her 'KC'-is travelling across the American South by train. At a stop, the train conductor informs her that she is seated in a carriage reserved for White passengers. However, thinking that she does not look Black, he asks her where she is from. KC replies, "I am a colored woman," and is consequently ejected from the carriage."
"Self-depriving acts of solidarity pose a puzzle. At least sometimes, they can seem morally praiseworthy. Yet, on the other hand, such acts make things worse overall. Let's assume that the people in my examples all know that by depriving themselves of the good in question, they will not make others any better off. When he declines the offer of water, Alexander knows that it will not be offered to his soldiers instead;"
People sometimes deliberately deprive themselves of a good in order to show solidarity with others who lack it. Historical and imagined examples include leaders refusing resources to share soldiers' suffering, prisoners declining early release to remain with fellow captives, and a traveler identifying as 'colored' to endure segregation rather than accept a seat reserved for White passengers. Such self-deprivation can appear morally admirable while simultaneously worsening overall welfare. The phenomenon raises a moral puzzle when the sacrificers know that their deprivation will not make others better off. The examples illustrate the tension between expressive solidarity and consequential harm.
Read at Apaonline
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]