Solicitude

Careful and attentive concern for the well-being or welfare of another; a state of anxious or devoted care. Unlike benevolence (which is a disposition to do good), solicitude emphasises active, ongoing watchfulness and concern. In public service ethics, solicitude towards vulnerable citizens — the poor, disabled, elderly, and marginalised — is required by Articles 38, 39, and 46 of the Indian Constitution (Directive Principles). Martin Heidegger used Sorge (care/solicitude) as the foundational structure of human existence in Being and Time (1927), suggesting that solicitude is not merely a virtue but an ontological feature of human being-with-others.