TOPIC: TWO BROTHERLY TALES AND MORAL OBLIGATIONS: THE CLAIMS OF COMMUNITY AND

WHERE OUR LOYALTY LIES.

BY,

JESMA JULIE.U

2BALLB A

21149

ABSTRACT:

The research paper starts with the case of William and James (“Whitey”) Bulger. William and James
are brothers who grew up in Boston in a poor family. William was a studious student who completed
law in Boston and entered politics and become the president of the University of Massachusetts. His
elder brother James chose the opposite path of his brother, he was a high school dropout and
mostly spent his time on the street committing crimes, he also served time in federal prison for bank
robbery, then rose to become the leader of the most wanted criminal gang called the winter hill,
where he committed more than 20 murders, drug deals and all sort of illegal activities. To avoid his
arrest he flew in 1995, but usually speak to his younger brother on phone. When the FBI asked
William refused to give the whereabouts of his brother and he was not ready to help anyone on
catch his brother. He speaks “I am not obligated to help everyone to catch him”. The research paper
continues with another story of David and Ted Kaczynski, which is also similar to William and James’s
situation where in both the story one brother is loyal to the other one. The loyalty between them
was unshakable no matter what his brother is. The final part of the research focuses on Michael
Scandal’s view on “Where our Loyalty lies?”.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1. What do you make of the way William Bulger and David Kaczynski contended with their brothers?

2. what happens if our obligations to our family or community come into conflict with our universal
obligations to humanity?

3. Does obligations of loyalty overweigh universal duties of justice (as we see the loyalty in William
and David towards their brothers)?

HYPOTHESIS:

The hypothesis of this research is, Unlike the biblical tale of Cain and Abel, both William and David
were taking the role of being their brother’s keeper. No matter who their brother is, he may be a
serial killer or a drug dealer, BROTHER IS BROTHER. Both William and David chose loyalty toward
their brothers than obliging towards justice. Their obligation was towards their close one than the
nation or a community. When obligations toward family come in conflict with universal obligations
to humanity, people will always choose family over humanity. Therefore, obligation of loyalty is
always taken the first place over universal duties of justice.
SCOPE OF RESEARCH:

The scope of research is split into two parts, the first one is about “the claims of community”, here
professor Sandal talks about Immanuel Kant’s objection to Aristotle’s theory on law and politics.
Kant believes the law must respect individuals’ freedom. People must always respect other people’s
freedom to make their own choices, which is a universal duty to humanity and this is the source of
moral obligation. This discussion of Kant’s view led to an introduction of communitarian philosophy.
According to Libertarians Generally, there are two kinds of obligations which are voluntary
obligations and the other one is obligations out of respect. But according to communitarians, there is
a third type of obligation, which is the obligation of membership, solidarity, and loyalty. These
obligations are not necessarily based on consent. We also inherit our past, and our identities, from
our family, city, or country. The other part of the research focuses on the question “Where our
loyalty lies?”. In this case professor, Sandel leads a discussion about the arguments for and against
the obligations of solidarity and membership. He brings forth the following questions “do we owe
more to our fellow citizens than to the citizens of other countries?”, and “Is patriotism a virtue, or a
prejudice for one’s own kind?”, He also talks about a case of William and James bulger, where
William was loyal to his elder brother James even though he was serial killer, drug dealer and so on.
He said “BROTHER IS BROTHER no matter what he does” and till the end he was loyal to his brother.
William’s point was that he was not obligated to help anyone against his brother.

METHODOLOGY:

The methodology used here is qualitative.

REFERENCE:

Michael Sandel’s What is the right thing to do : the claims of community.