Abstract

THE existence of a common bond is an essential characteristic of fraternal relations. It is a necessary condition of fraternity that the parties to the relation share something. The sense of bond that is a defining feature of fraternity does not lie in the sharing of goods by agents. If we share a hammer, a road, an office, a house, a market, a postman, a view of a lake, there is some common good that we each use, but we need not thereby have anything in common. Though we would be using the same good, our desires, interests, sentiments, and aims may be completely distinct and mutually independent. In these cases, the relation is essentially between an agent and a good, and it is only incidentally that other agents bear the same relation to the good. The bond constitutive of fraternity must involve a share in features that are intrinsic to the agents themselves.