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UCL Mellon Programme: Interdisciplinary Seminar 2006-2007

Seminar: 15 November 2006

Dr Derek Edyvane, Department of Politics, University of York. More ...

Abstract: Multicultural Friendship
 
It is widely supposed that moral conflict is undermining of social unity because social unity presupposes some degree of shared understanding.  This axiom appears to present a fundamental challenge for those who seek to identify the sources of solidarity in multicultural societies.  Multiculturalists are typically unhappy to limit cultural diversity in the name of social unity, but yet realise that some measure of social unity is integral to the stability of the multicultural order.  This paper argues, first, that moral conflict need not be undermining of social unity.  The idea of friendship suggests a form of social unity that is not vulnerable to the moral conflict which multicultural societies tend to experience.  The reason for this is that friendship often involves ‘basic’ concern for the other: concern for one’s friends, that is to say, is usually not conditional on shared understanding or moral consensus.  Consequently, the idea of friendship and the prospect of projecting it in some way on to the modern society should be of interest to political theorists concerned to account for social unity in conditions of moral and cultural diversity.  Secondly, a stronger possibility is indicated: far from undermining social unity, moral conflict might even serve to provide a source of motivation for political friendship and multicultural community.

This page last modified 8 February, 2012 by UCL Mellon Admin