Property, Solidarity and (German) History

In an elegant and concise article, Alexander and Penãlver argue that human beings are guided, as rational moral agents, by a normative commitment to seek lives that will allow them to flourish.1 However, humans necessarily develop the capacities required to live well and in a distinctly human fashion in dependence upon other human beings, within a web of social relationships. As members of such social networks, Alexander and Penãlver argue, individuals have to accept their obligation to participate in and contribute to the community that allows them to develop the capabilities necessary to grow and flourish as autonomous human beings. Alexander and Penãlver present the state as a community, but not the only one. Though it is just one among many, it is endowed with coercive power, hence in their view the state is not only entitled, but obligated to implement the economic redistribution and regulation necessary to compel those who may not do so voluntarily, to make their contribution to the flourishing of others and of the social network as a whole.