What Is Togetherness and Why Is It Good?

Abstract

To be together with other people, truly together, is a social good. Perhaps it is deeply entwined with other social goods that have been subjected to sustained philosophical discussion such as friendship. Still, in its own right, the topic of the nature and apparent value of togetherness has been largely neglected. This article advances three claims: (1) that togetherness of a certain relevant sort consists in sharing a sense of the meaningfulness of things; (2) that this sort of togetherness is a lead candidate for being the internal goal of personal relationships as such; and (3) that togetherness so understood is valuable because senses of the meaningfulness of things are to be shared. The argument of the article articulates a sense in which even solitary meaningful experiences have a social structure.