Defending the Free World

Abstract

Towards the end of his essay entitled 'Solidarity', Richard Rorty, having just argued that those who helped Jews in the last world war probably did so less because they were fellow human beings than because they belonged to the same city, profession or other social grouping as themselves, asks us to consider why contemporary American liberals should help miserable young American blacks. 'Do we say that these people must be helped because they are our fellow human beings? We may, but it is much more persuasive, morally as well as politically, to describe them as our fellow Americans - to insist that it is outrageous that an American should live without hope'.