The Duty to Grieve Strangers

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that we have a duty to grieve the deaths of strangers. Specifically, I argue that we have a moral duty to grieve the deaths of fellow members of our social-political communities when their deaths result from systemic injustice. This grief is not identical to the grief one experiences with personal losses, but a distinct political grief. I draw from historical examples of calls made to grieve strangers, focusing specifically on those made by Mamie Till-Mobley following the murder of Emmett Till, to demonstrate that such calls are indicative of an obligation that has heretofore remained neglected in philosophical examination.

My argument challenges extant philosophical accounts of the duty to grieve that deny that we have an obligation to grieve strangers. The most dominant contemporary account, developed by Michael Cholbi (2021), argues that we only have reason to grieve the loss of a relationship with those who helped to constitute who we are – our practical identities. In a more recent account, MacKenzie and Cholbi (2024) contend that the duty to grieve is derived from a broader duty of practical fidelity that we only owe to people with whom we share loving relationships. But since strangers cannot and do not antecedently constitute our practical identities, and do not share loving relationships with us, it seems there is no obligation to grieve their deaths.

Nonetheless, my argument for political grief demonstrates that despite lacking a personal relationship to the deceased, we have robust reasons to grieve the deaths of those we do not personally know in virtue of a non-personal relationship of co-citizenship. Grieving in these circumstances, I argue, is the means to recognize and grapple with our significant moral connection to, and responsibility for, rectifying these injustices. Moreover, I demonstrate how fulfilling this responsibility is an instrumental good for sustaining thriving social-political communities and shared commitments to justice.