Figli della stessa madre : dall’unità di specie alla democrazia come forma di vita

Jean-Paul Sartre, in the interviews with Benny Lévy published under the title L'Espoir maintenant, points to the idea of a «fraternity without terror» as the premise of a reflection on democracy as a «form of life» rather than a «political form of power». This concept of fraternity refers to the identity of the human species understood not as a set of biological characteristics, but as «a kind of relationship that exists between human beings». Fraternity 'of promise' and fraternity 'of religion' as forms of spiritual fraternity are conditioned, at least initially, by an asymmetry (the inside and the outside of the community of ideals or faith) which can be mitigated by reference to the 'essential facts' of human existence. At the same time, they can give an orientation and an end to the universal experience of vulnerability and need, which remains as such open for peace or war, for solidarity or domination. The political use of the notion of fraternity is predicated on this tension and is therefore necessarily a cautious one. The goal is to be for, not against each other.