Abstract:
The aim of my paper is to provide a phenomenological outline of solidarity understood as a social phenomenon. I will defend the thesis that solidarity cannot be properly understood either as a concept, or as some institutionalized mechanism grounded in a legal-political order. It precedes and grounds such orders. Solidarity belongs to the social realm within which it can be properly understood only as an event. That is, a radical phenomenon appearing beyond (or even against) all expectations, preceding its own causes, opening a horizon of novelty, of positive social and normative reconstruction (regardless of concrete forms such reconstruction may take). However, as an event it is also ephemeral and transient. If so, the question of its potential impact on the political realm is essentially open. I will also defend the thesis that it is Eastern Europe, where solidarity took/has taken on its most genuine, exceptional forms. My analysis will be based on the examples of the Polish Solidarity Movement, the Singing Revolution, Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, and the Belarusian Revolution.
Keywords:
solidarity, Eastern Europe, event, phenomenology, the social, the political
How to cite:
Bursztyka, Przemysław. “Standing Together Is Not Enough: A Phenomenological Outline of Solidarity (With Constant Reference to Eastern European Experience).” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 9, no. 2 (2025): 117-167. https://doi.org/10.14394/eidos.jpc.2025.0017.
Author:
Przemysław Bursztyka
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Warsaw
Krakowskie Przedmieście 3, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4978-198X
pbursztyka@uw.edu.pl
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