Imaju li bliske osobe prednost? Etičke i političke dužnosti uzajamne pomoći
Do People Who are Close Have the Priority? Ethical and Political Duties of Mutual Assistance

Summary/Abstract: The first part of the article explores David Hume’s and Adam Smith’s reasons due to which mutual care is limited to people close to one another, at which point the authors emphasize the influence of both emotional and physical closeness. Contrary to this, Singer’s conception of universal duties implies that from the perspective of morality the particularity of relationships between moral subjects is irrelevant, and that ethical actions should be led by the content, i.e. the significance, urgency, and relevance of needs. This text argues that it is insufficient for duties to be established exclusively on the basis of the needs of person who requires assistance, and that duties as concrete ethical imperatives are inseparable from assignments that belong to subjects as duty-holders. The article analyses in what way the encounter or physical closeness may constitute special relationships. In addition, the text analyses whether, and in what way, residing on the same territory, that is, within the borders of the state, may be accepted as an argument in favour of special duties. The argumentation defending the specificity of duties formed on the basis of closeness would imply that non-citizens in our country, who came here due to extremely bad conditions in their own state, should receive assistance just as our co-citizens.

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