Il valore politico della fedeltà – Le valeur politique de la fidélité

Moving from an analysis of two essays by Paul Ricoeur—one on sexuality, the other on the Song of Songs—the author attempts to elucidate the paradigm of marital fidelity as reshaped during the Reformation, when it was somewhat opposed to the celebration of the ascetic life and of chastity, as well as to the ideal of celibacy in the words of Paul, based on the quote from Genesis, “it is not good for a man to be alone”. John Milton conceived of the marital pact as being founded on the possibility of it being broken. Marriage also has a strong political value, as described by Rousseau. Nowadays, the issue is around the topic of ‘free fidelity’. Why stay together, and how to stay together, if we can separate? After centuries of pushing for emancipation, we now have a society of isolation and exclusion, in which the ‘freedom to be faithful’ and the ‘freedom to be attached’ can become vital fuel for ethical, social and political criticism.