"La fraternità come categoria (cosmo)politica"

Abstract: The author begins with an affirmation of the religious roots of fraternity, a category which is present in various religions, and indeed fundamental in Judaism and Christianity. He examines three concepts of fraternity: as consanguinity, as an ethical principle, and as a cosmopolitical category. He shows the historical impact of fraternity and analyses some “realist” criticisms. He suggests some areas for further study and for the development of the idea of fraternity: exploring the dialectic of identity and otherness, a dialectic of intersubjectivity, and its application to international solidarity. In this way the idea of fraternity can assume a measure of importance in intercultural and international relations, because it develops Bartolomeo de Las Casas’s guiding idea that «humanity is one».