Citizenship, Belonging, and Freedom

The essay deals with the legal notion of citizenship, which implies the possibility of dividing humans into sets, by means of legal provisions. It highlights the manifold dimensions of citizenship, taking hints from classical works of political philosophy by Plato and Aristotle. Afterwards, the essay tackles with the problem of recomposing a shared idea of humankind, taking hints from some critical reflections by Hannah Arendt on the theory of human rights as universal rights. Finally, the essay argues that the issue of citizenship, besides its legal dimension, involves moral and cultural aspects, well highlighted in Plato's Crito, which can be summarized in the idea of loyalty